From the point of view of the German economy, the consequences of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine are causing delivery bottlenecks to worsen, sometimes dramatically. As the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) announced on Thursday, around 60 percent of companies are reporting additional disruptions in the supply chain and logistics as a result of the war. This is shown by a first trend from an ongoing DIHK lightning survey on the economic consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“The stress in the economy is currently very high,” said DIHK Vice President Ralf Stoffels. No medium-sized company can swallow the rising energy and raw material costs. Stoffels is head of BIW Isolierstoffe GmbH, which processes silicone rubber. “Without us, no car drives off the assembly line and no heating is heated.” There have been bottlenecks in raw materials since late summer, but this has now been exacerbated by the war. Delivery times are sometimes “gigantic”. Stoffels gave an example: If the warning light on a forklift truck, which according to German law has to flash, is broken, the company will have to wait 24 weeks for a replacement part.
Small and medium-sized industrial companies are pushing a backlog of orders that cannot be processed due to supply bottlenecks. In addition, there would be an explosion in costs, including energy prices. “It’s a dramatic situation for us right now,” said Stoffels.
DIHK foreign trade chief Volker Treier said that Germany is dependent to a significant extent on Russian deliveries of nickel and titanium, for example. Some of these are indispensable. In the end, price increases for raw materials and energy would also reach the consumer. Almost 20 percent of the companies said they had a difficult financial situation. The result is that less is invested. Stoffels called on politicians to provide hardship grants. (dpa)