The war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic pose significant challenges for the electronics machinery industry. This is the impression conveyed by the VDMA's 14th flash survey in April 2022 and the EMINT trade association's member survey. More than 75% of companies report noticeable to serious indirect effects, such as energy price increases. 66% consider the impact of an EU import ban to be serious. 59% see problems for suppliers/purchasers in the event of a substantial reduction in natural gas supplies.
With regard to the coronavirus pandemic, 53% of companies report a serious impact on the supply side - an increase of 17% compared to the survey in September 21. A further deterioration is expected in the next three months. The demand side, on the other hand, is described positively: Around 44% of companies feel only a minor impact - a decrease of 29% compared to September 2021. This assessment is shared by 48%.
Bottlenecks for components: In the flash survey, companies were asked about material supply and product-specific supply bottlenecks: for December 21 to April 22, 35% report supply chain impairments. For supplier components, 54% see serious bottlenecks. There are supply bottlenecks for components, and bottlenecks are also expected for plastics and metals. 54% expect a normalization in one to two years, 46% within the next twelve months. 75% of companies report price increases of between 10% and 20%.
Slowdown in growth: 95% of companies consider the order situation in 2022 to be better than in the previous year. Around 60% of companies expect sales growth of between 10% and 20%. For 2023, 80% expect an increase in turnover of between 5% and 20%. Expectations have thus improved continuously from September 2020 (-13.1%) to March 2021 (11.1%) and March 2022 (21.1%). Companies expect growth to slow down in 2023.
Headcount at the top of the agenda: 82% of productronics companies are aiming to increase their headcount, which is around 39% more than in the last survey in September 2021. 18% are not planning any changes to their headcount. The VDMA represents more than 3,400 German and European mechanical and plant engineering companies. They employ around four million people and account for a sales volume of 800 billion euros. In the manufacturing industry, the value added of 270 billion euros contributes the highest share to the European gross domestic product.
