It’s undeniable that the impact of Brexit import/export delays, the ongoing international pandemic and some unfortunate extraneous events in our sector’s supply chain are causing a great many of us a sleepless night or two right now.

Demand

But we remain buoyed by recent demand and a real feeling in the market that business is on the up.

Indeed, the UK Manufacturing PMI soared to 60.9 in April – its highest point since 1994 and the 11th consecutive month of growth. Official statistics suggest new orders across UK manufacturing rose at the fastest pace since 2013 and two thirds of firms are expecting production to be higher in a year’s time.

Consequently, we are really busy at moment, which is an indicator that UK Manufacturing is having a genuine recovery. All lorries fully loaded and ready to travel.

We’re also encouraged to hear about plenty of reshoring projects along with pent up demand as we recover from a lost year so to speak. Do check out the Reshoring UK website to get involved.

Supply

Unfortunately, raw materials are genuinely in short supply which means prices and lead times might stretch a little in Q2 and Q3.

Waterbased Coatings, Epoxies and Isocyanates are most impacted by ‘force manure’ as I prefer to call it 💩

As ever we will be as transparent and upfront as we can, we genuinely try to look after all our customers, it’s not just a marketing phrase!

We’ve got lots of options if your existing supplier is struggling to help you and we’re doing all we can to keep price rises – seen right across the market – as limited as possible too.

So let’s keep talking, keep working together and we will all emerge down the line in better shape and appreciative of the whole supply chain pulling hard to get through.

David