Scarcity and higher prices: eight out of ten companies are struggling with corona

Material bottlenecks and higher costs are now causing problems for a large majority of German companies.

83 percent complain about price increases or delivery problems for raw materials, intermediate products and goods, as shown in a survey published on Thursday by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) among almost 3,000 companies of all industries and sizes.

"Raw material shortages and supply chain problems affect the German economy in all its breadth," said DIHK foreign trade director Volker Treier.

"The current development can make the economic recovery process after the crisis noticeably more difficult." It is therefore possible that the pre-crisis level of gross domestic product will not be reached until mid-2022.

The problem industries: chemistry, metal, plastics

Just under every fifth company expects an improvement by the turn of the year.

In contrast, 53 percent do not expect the situation to improve until 2022.

A quarter cannot predict when it will normalize.

"We are currently seeing very great uncertainties here," said Treier.

In many branches of industry, almost all companies are affected by the problems. More than 90 percent of the companies from the rubber and plastics industry, metal industry and chemical industry report on this. In the automotive industry it is 92 percent, in electrical engineering 85 percent and in construction 94 percent. But also in the retail trade (83 percent) as well as transport and logistics companies (67 percent) are sued. Only a few companies report that they have had delivery problems, but that these are no longer up-to-date.

The companies are feeling the bottlenecks and rising prices, especially for direct primary products, steel, aluminum, copper and wood.

Packaging is also in short supply across all industries, as is electronic components.

There is a massive lack of semiconductors in the automotive industry.

The retail sector reports shortages in textiles, for example.

Above all, there is a lack of transport capacity

The main reasons given by the companies are increased demand and - in view of the different developments in the pandemic in the world - insufficient production capacities (70 percent) and transport problems (53 percent).

In the latter case, the current shortage of containers (76 percent) and a lack of freight capacities for ships (74 percent), roads and rails (27 percent) and airplanes (24 percent) are noticeable.

The recent partial closure of the Chinese port in Ningbo is affecting the German economy at a time when it is already having to cope with considerable delivery problems, according to the DIHK. Every second company also cites production downtimes at suppliers as the reason for the lack of raw materials. German companies also occasionally report that the flood disaster is contributing to the problems.

As a result of the delivery bottlenecks, 88 percent of companies are currently struggling with higher purchase prices for their products and services. "If increasing demand in many regions of the world meets insufficient production and transport capacities, for example due to corona restrictions, prices rise," said Treier. "This is increasingly burdening the global economy and the international business of our companies."