Shortage of raw materials swept the global manufac

Shortage of raw materials swept the global manufacturing industry!

With the recovery of demand and the serious shortage of raw material supply, the global manufacturing industry can’t make bricks without straw.

The United States is short of steel

In the past year, the epidemic situation has been overcast, many American steel mills have stopped production, and the American steel industry has suffered a lot.

It is only now that demand for cars, trucks, household appliances and other steel products has recovered to a certain extent that steel production in the United States has begun to increase slowly.

In the second quarter of last year, the capacity utilization rate of steel mills in the United States once dropped to 56%, and now it is even 75%, but it is still far lower than the 82% level in February last year. The same is true of steel shipments: higher, but less than the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Census Bureau data showed that in the last quarter, the number of outstanding orders of steel in the United States reached the highest level in five years, while the inventory was at the low point of nearly three and a half years.

In terms of price, the benchmark price of hot rolled steel in the United States reached US $1176 per ton this month, the highest level in at least 13 years. Steel prices in the US have risen more than 160% since last August.

As a result, many parts manufacturers in the United States not only fall into the situation of "having orders and no raw materials", but also the soaring steel price makes their material cost soar, and the steel cost of some enterprises has nearly doubled in the past six months.

According to the survey data of IHS Markit PMI, the factory payment price index in February in the United States was the highest since 2011 and the price index of finished products was the highest since 2008.

According to the current situation, it has become a new problem for manufacturers to digest or transfer costs.