GERMANY – Jowat, the adhesives manufacturer from Detmold, Germany, acknowledged through a market communication that it is facing a disruption to the supply of key raw materials caused by outages at several European and US American chemical manufacturers.

Availability of raw materials essential to adhesive manufacturing had already been limited prior to the outages. The situation has been further exacerbated by the recent severe winter weather in the US South which has led to the loss of a large part of refinery and chemical production capacities in the USA. This has also impacted the supply chains of Jowat’s international locations.

According to the US American Adhesive and Sealant Council (ASC), supply chains in and from the USA will take weeks or even months to recover.

In addition, the situation is made even more challenging by currently long transport times and limited availability of freight capacities on sea and on land. In the global raw material market, this also has a significant impact on the current supply situation in Europe and Asia.

Klaus Kullmann, Managing Director at Jowat SE: “We regret the current shortage situation and are doing our utmost to remain a reliable supplier and partner for our customers. Our global orientation helps us operate in a flexible manner and reduce the negative consequences of supply bottlenecks as far as possible. In this unprecedented situation, however, supply disruptions can hardly be avoided.”