Almost three-quarters of importing Swedish companies are facing major problems with their supply chains, according to a survey by the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. Steep price rises have now also emerged as a major new concern.
Supply chain issues are now much greater than normal, according to 73% of the Swedish importing companies who participated in a recent business panel, commissioned by the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.
”We are not yet out of the crisis. There are, and will continue to be, problems with supply chains,” says Anna Stellinger, Director of International Affairs at the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.
She describes the situation as ’a perfect storm’.
”This situation is extremely challenging for companies to manage. There are many elements to this, all happening simultaneously,” adds Stellinger.
Shutdowns caused by the pandemic, not least in China, are one factor that are continuing to interrupt production and close ports. The container chaos shortage, which has afflicted global transport chains since the global wave of shutdowns in 2020, is another factor.
”At first, we had no containers at all. Now, there are too many in certain places and in some ports, you aren’t able to unload,” Stellinger said.
The greatest problem for importing companies currently arises from the ongoing delays. Yet rising prices are becoming a bubble, which increasing numbers of companies in the sector are now pointing out as problematic.
According to the survey, three times as many importing companies - 48% - are currently experiencing problems with rising prices compared to a year ago. A related problem is a shortage of goods and services, an issue which was reported by some 40% of importing companies.
”Overall, in terms of delays and shortages, the problems faced are the same as last year, but in terms of rising prices they are much greater,” Stellinger said, comparing this year’s survey with the 2020 edition.
To cope with the problems, many companies have increased their inventories. Another trend in the crisis is an increasing tendency to seek to spread risk by using a wider range of suppliers of goods and services.
”Businesses are international; they want to maintain their value chains and they want to source globally,” Stellinger says.
However, some companies – particularly the larger ones - have also begun to outline plans to move their production.
”Just under a tenth of the companies surveyed have, or have considered, moving production to Sweden, while around the same number want to bring overseas production home to Europe,” Stellinger says. ”It’s usually not the entire production, but rather those parts of the inputs that you are particularly dependent on.”
Joakim Goksör/TT
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