Global supply chains, with container shipping as their backbone, are struggling to keep pace with the demand for goods and overcome labor disruptions caused by Covid outbreaks.
Supply chains snags that have roiled commodity markets and helped push aluminum prices to a 13-year high this week are unlikely to ease any time soon. That’s the message coming from producers, consumers, traders and shippers at North America’s largest aluminum conference, which ended Friday.
Aluminum has jumped 48% this year on surging demand, shipping bottlenecks and production curbs in China, stoking inflation concerns and causing a major headache for consumer-goods producers facing worsening material shortages alongside the sharp rise in costs. Snarled supplies will continue to dog the industry through most of 2022, many conference participants said, with some projecting it could take as long as five years to resolve the issues.
Global supply chains, with container shipping as their backbone, are struggling to keep pace with the demand for goods and overcome labor disruptions caused by Covid outbreaks. Compounding matters in the aluminum industry are worker shortages at plants and a lack of truck drivers to deliver the metal that is available.