A report by the German Federal Association of Wooden Packaging, Pallets, Export Packaging (HPE) shows how intertwined the European and global supply chains are and what the consequences will be if a major raw material supplier leaves the international community.<\/p>\n
Pallet manufacturers are faced with an acute shortage of nails. The first companies are already barely able to meet their demand for pallets and packaging. HPE fears that production at some German pallet manufacturers could come to a standstill in just a few weeks. That would mean a massive disruption to the supply chains in Germany.<\/p>\n
90% of the nails are made of Russian steel<\/strong><\/p>\n Pallets are essentially made from lumber, pallet blocks and nails. 78 nails are needed for a Euro pallet. According to the European suppliers of the HPE industry, around 90% of the loose nails required for pallets are made from Russian steel. As a result of the trade sanctions against Russia, no supplies can be ordered there until further notice. But we are looking for alternatives.<\/p>\n The problem: The pallets made in Germany are almost exclusively produced in highly automated production lines. The nails used require steel qualities that until now could almost exclusively be obtained from Russia. They can therefore not be ordered from elsewhere so quickly. In addition, there is practically no capacity available for short-term overseas deliveries, for example from the Far East. Since the German production machines cannot be converted to other nails, millions of pallets could soon be missing here, warns the HPE.<\/p>\n For the supplier side, i.e. the forestry and sawmill industry, this means that if no more pallets can be produced, no more wood will be purchased. Depending on how long this situation lasts, alternative sales must be found.<\/p>\n 20 million import pallets are missing<\/strong><\/p>\n In addition to the shortage of pallets from German production, there will also be no pallet imports from Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine for the time being. In 2021, a good 10 million pallets were imported from there. That was 14.5% of all German pallet imports. In addition, last year there were 9.55 million pallets from Poland and the Baltic States, whose manufacturers are heavily dependent on Russian wood imports.<\/p>\n An import deficit of around 20 million pallets can be derived from this alone. In fact, however, the shortfall is likely to be significantly higher, since according to HPE information all European countries have the same supply problem with nails as Germany, explains HPE Managing Director Marcus Kirschner.<\/p>\n Wood shortages<\/strong><\/p>\n German manufacturers of pallets, crates and cable drums are already experiencing bottlenecks with various types of wood because there are no imports from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. Depending on the wood range, up to 25% of German imports came from these countries last year, for example plywood.<\/p>\n In the case of sawn timber for pallets and packaging, the dependence of important Baltic suppliers of local companies on Russian and Belarusian softwood sawn timber imports is having a negative impact. More than 70% of the volume of softwood lumber imported in the Baltics in 2021 came from Russia and Belarus.<\/p>\n According to the German Federal Statistical Office, more pallets were produced in Germany in 2021 than ever before. Pallet production increased by 8% to a good 119.5 million pieces. Supplemented by an import surplus of a good 39 million pallets, the domestic requirement last year was around 158 million pallets, which were used for goods traffic. The quantity of boxes and cable drums produced rose by a good 15% each.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A report by the German Federal Association of Wooden Packaging, Pallets, Export Packaging (HPE) shows how intertwined the European and global supply chains are and what the consequences will be if a major raw material supplier leaves the international community. … Continue reading