In almost all branches of industry, companies have fewer problems procuring materials. According to a survey by the Ifo Institute, the values ??are still well above their average in some cases. And there are still many problems in two key German industries.
Complaints from German industry about missing materials decreased in December for the third month in a row. 50.7 percent of the companies are still suffering from this, after 59.3 percent in November, according to a survey conducted by the Munich Ifo Institute. “A dissolution of the bottlenecks now seems to be emerging in many sectors,” said the head of the Ifo surveys, Klaus Wohlrabe. “This will support the economy in the coming months.”
Depending on the development of the corona situation in China, there could also be setbacks again. The German economy obtains more goods from the People’s Republic than from any other country. According to the Ifo, the number of companies with material shortages has fallen in almost all sectors of industry. However, some of the current values ??are still well above their long-term average.
Mechanical engineering and the automotive sector continue to be the two most affected German key industries: around 75 percent report problems here. In the electrical industry it is still around 63 percent. The paper industry is currently the least affected at 11.3 percent.
German exporters are hoping that trade will pick up again as bottlenecks ease. “Many companies have quite large order backlogs that could not be processed in the past few months due to material shortages,” said the President of the Federal Association of Wholesale, Foreign Trade, Services (BGA), Dirk Jandura, the Reuters news agency. “Since the material bottlenecks are weakening, there should be catch-up effects here.” This supports foreign trade in the new year.
Microchips, plastics, packaging: according to a study, a lack of preliminary products from abroad has cost German industry dearly. From the beginning of 2021 to mid-2022, goods worth almost 64 billion euros could not be manufactured due to supply bottlenecks, as the institute for macroeconomics and business cycle research (IMK), which is close to the trade unions, found out in a study.
