Bottlenecks in the supply chains on which American businesses depend are creating widespread inflationary pressures, a number of U.S. firms announced this week that are disrupting their operations and forcing them to raise prices for their customers.
Whirlpool on Friday blamed “supply chain inefficiencies” for “pretty brutal” price increases for steel, resin and other materials, saying they would add nearly $ 1 billion to the equipment manufacturer’s costs this year.
“Something is out of stock in the store any day,” said Vivek Sankaran, Albertsons CEO, likening the grocery chain’s efforts to respond to successive challenges to a Whac-A-Mole game.
When asked what ingredients and supplies Chipotle found difficult to get hold of this week, Jack Hartung, the restaurant chain’s chief financial officer, replied: “All of them.”
Pressure on every link in the supply chain, from factory closures due to Covid-19 outbreaks to difficulty finding enough staff to unload trucks, is spreading across all sectors, compounding the question of the threat inflation poses represents robust consumer spending and rising corporate profits.
For the past few days, major US airlines have all been complaining about the rising cost of kerosene, toy maker Mattel has pointed out the challenge of higher resin prices, and Danaher has added itself to the list of manufacturers struggling to source electronic components .
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book Economic Conditions Summary reported that supply chain bottlenecks and labor shortages have slowed the pace of economic growth in much of the country. “Most districts reported significantly higher prices, fueled by rising demand for goods and raw materials,” she noted.
Congested ports, trucker shortages and record-breaking low vacancy rates in warehouses have clashed with strong demand from consumers and corporate customers, creating “quiet chaos,” said Ethan Karp, CEO of Magnet, a nonprofit consultancy that works with manufacturers.
“They are busier than ever before, but they cannot find people to ship their products that are already made,” he said. Companies suffered unpredictable delays and overpaid opportunities for gray market deliveries, he added. . . the ports are secured and the orders continue ”.
Most companies said they had managed to offset these higher costs by raising their own prices or other efficiency gains.
Procter & Gamble, the maker of Tide laundry detergent and Charmin toilet paper, said this week it would launch another round of price increases after warning that supply chain costs would be higher than previously expected. Andre Schulten, P & G’s chief financial officer, said it had announced price increases for nine of its ten product categories in the US, with mid-single-digit increases for most of its portfolio.
Earlier this month, PepsiCo said its price increases could continue into the first quarter of next year, while Tesla said it is also adjusting prices to offset rising raw material and labor costs.
Executives plan for cost pressures to remain elevated through 2022, but they are cautious about hike prices too high if inflation proves to be short-lived. “I don’t think inflation will go away in the next quarter, two or three quarters,” Hartung said, adding that even if commodity prices fell, wage inflation would not be temporary.
“We know we have pricing power,” he said, but added, “Some offers have a limit on customers’ willingness to pay,” he said.
Matt Puckett, CFO of VF Corp, said the company has curbed discounts on its Vans sneakers and North Face jackets to boost margins despite factory closures in Asia and port congestion in the US.
“Over time, I think [inflation] will slow down a bit, but we plan as if we will continue to see fairly significant freight increases in the future, ”he said.
Andrew Nocella, United Airlines’ chief commercial officer, reiterated the news on Wednesday, saying that congestion in US ports meant “aircraft today are transporting things that we traditionally don’t have,” a situation the company expects to see up will last well into 2022.
