LACK OF RAW MATERIALS, CONTAINER TRANSPORT COSTS FROM CHINA: FROM 3,000 TO 16,000 EUROS

Unindustria Reggio Emilia in the field with a pool of experts to support local businesses in contract reviews

 © ANSA

The costs of a container arriving from China have gone from 3 thousand to 16 thousand euros in recent months; electronic boards and wooden pallets remain a chimera even if ordered well in advance, due to the scarcity of raw materials. Not even robots, essential in the digital transformation process imposed by the IV industrial revolution, are no longer able to be delivered on time due to the lack of microchips.

This is the other face of the post-pandemic recovery that is weighing on companies, caught between the need to fulfill orders, the dizzying increase in transport costs and raw materials, the difficulty in finding essential materials for the realization of their products. .

The situation is such that Unindustria Reggio Emilia (in the photo the president, Fabio Storchi) has launched a new service for companies, aimed at supporting them in the negotiation of existing contracts in the face of significant variations in the costs of raw materials and lack of supplies for causes independent of individual entrepreneurs.

The situation, however, remains complex.

“There are no more rules and couriers do not guarantee deliveries,” explains Grazia Iori, the president of Cormach, the Correggio-based company for thirty years that has been a manufacturer of equipment for tire specialists and garages. Twenty employees and a turnover of 3 million a year, now, unfortunately, declining. «We do not get electronic cards or wooden pallets, indispensable for us – she says. The latter we are trying to build them with recycled plastic – he continues -, but monitors are still lacking and the cost of containers from China has increased fivefold, from 3 thousand and 16 thousand euros “. It is a condition that puts medium and small companies in difficulty that “find it difficult to access some state funding, such as those for internationalization and digitalization”, observes Iori, for which “the knots will come in 2022”.

From the automotive sector to services related to the environment, the criticalities are similar. “We are suffering with deliveries because the essential microchips for the operation of the robots necessary for waste collection are missing,” explains Giorgia Iasoni, CEO of Ecologia Solution Ambiente in Reggio Emilia, vice president of Unindustria with responsibility for Internationalization. “There are all the elements for the realization of a perfect storm – he adds -, even if I want to continue to be optimistic about the attention that the Draghi Government has towards companies and for the commitment that Confindustria is making in supporting companies. and entrepreneurs “.

In fact, from this direct contact between the trade organization and its associates, the new service developed by Unindustria Reggio Emilia, or the possibility of a check-up by experts of the contracts that the companies have in place, to assess the need their revision or renegotiation of the clauses, in the face of changed scenarios.

The team of experts is coordinated by lawyer Eugenio Bettella, of the Bergs & More firm, according to whom the situation created should stimulate “a new business culture, for the regionalization of the purchasing and production chain”.

For the renegotiation of contracts “it takes from one to three months and disputes have unquantifiable times – highlights the lawyer -. SMEs in particular risk being squeezed between rising prices and large customers and suppliers who do not question themselves », concludes the professional.

To use the service, companies can contact the Unindustria Internationalization Area directly.

Original Article: https://www.ansa.it/pressrelease/emiliaromagna/2021/12/13/carenza-materie-prime-costri-trasporto-container-dalla-cina-da-3mila-a-16mila-euro-_8dc8aa1d -1106-4c26-9685-82abdb233710.html