Recent Release | 19 Dec 2023

Analysing the German construction industry’s supply chains

Economic Consulting Team

Oxford Economics

The supply chain disruptions triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, the blockade of the Suez Canal, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were historically unique for Germany’s construction sector. Our research showed how these supply chain disruptions affected construction companies in various ways and identified strategies to help overcome them.

The dominant effects were higher purchase prices, longer waiting times, and increased resources devoted towards planning. These longer waiting times meant greater difficulties in processing existing orders and a consequent need to forego new orders, which in turn led to a loss of turnover.

Our research also found its supply chain was more globally intertwined than previously understood: the sector generates 40% of gross value added via imported services. Thirteen of the 57 imported intermediate inputs were found to be highly vulnerable. Other industry-specific characteristics include a high level of manufacturing complexity, which leads to a large number of required products. Meanwhile warehousing is often difficult, meaning supply chain interruptions have a direct impact on production capacity.

Our recommendations to the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs, and Spatial Development were that companies should:

To read the full report in German, please click here.

To read the English executive summary, please fill out the form below.

The experts behind the research

Our Economic Consulting team are world leaders in quantitative economic analysis, working with clients around the globe and across sectors to build models, forecast markets and evaluate interventions using state-of-the art techniques. Lead consultants on this project were:

Johanna Neuhoff

Associate Director of Consulting, Economic Impact

Hannah Marie Zick
Hannah Zick

Economist, Economic Impact

Andy Logan

Director of Industry Consulting

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