Many companies continue to find themselves in the unpleasant situation of not being able to process full order books. The reason: material shortages. But the development is positive.
The material bottlenecks in German industry are continuing to recede. In August, only 24.4 percent of the companies surveyed by the Munich Ifo Institute reported problems, according to the economic researchers. That is 5.1 percentage points less than in July. In addition, the value was below 50 percent in every single industry for the first time in over two years.
“The development is moving more and more towards the pre-crisis level,” said Klaus Wohlrabe, the head of the Ifo surveys. “Companies’ problems are now shifting from the supply side to the demand side.”
The shortage is still most widespread in the automotive industry with a good 49 percent of companies, followed by mechanical engineering with 40. For data processing equipment it was 39 percent and for electrical equipment 31 percent. The Ifo found the lowest values in the paper industry at 2, the production of wood, wickerwork, basketry and cork goods at 3 and metal production and processing at 4 percent. The chemical industry is only slightly affected at just over 7 percent.
Source: Stern
