Well, I have already received my first shot of COVID-19 vaccine and everything has been easy and without incidents, so you have not had any luck, I will continue writing articles on my blog.
This pandemic has had a major impact on the exchange of goods throughout the world and a lot of manufacturing facilities are connected by transportation routes with several storage nodes along the way. Manufacturers that require people to work closely together have been disrupted because of social distancing requirements. Also, transportation routes had a lot of disruptions and mobility difficulties, so all supply chains have been affected.
In recent weeks we have had a significant demand in CONICA from regular customers starting the high season but also non-regular ones who have begun to have supply problems with their usual suppliers.
The world market for polymer materials has been suffering for weeks due to raw material shortages and price increases are seriously impacting the production of a lot of Polyurethane, Epoxy and near all polymer products. Some of our competitors are struggling to get production lines running and our Supply Chain team at CONICA is doing his best to ensure we get all up and running without serious cost and disruption effects.
After a strong drop in production due to the COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding lockdown measures a lot of raw materials are on very low stocks or unavailable or their price has grown to a crazy level. A lot of these raw material factories are located in USA that also had extreme weather at the end of last year and beginning of 2021.
In addition to this, situation is further aggravated by shortages in shipping containers and now this week one of the world’s most important trade routes Suez Canal has been at a standstill for a full week since the MV Ever Green ran aground. Each day, the blockage has been delaying goods from passing through this crucial waterway. The canal, through which around 10% of global maritime trade flows, provides a crucial link for cargo being shipped from the East to the West. Close to 19,000 ships used the canal last year. Luckily today this issue in the Canal will be fixed, but now a collapse may become normal at all port terminals in the word with a lot of ships that were blocked in the Canal, arriving simultaneously.
All these factors are making prices to rise sharply at record levels and reducing the margins for all manufacturers, distributors and operators.
Please carefully plan your needs for the next few weeks or months to face this really difficult situation. Although nobody knows I think these problems may remain with us for a few more months.
Stay safe my friends.
Rubberman Blog 