More than 80% of German companies have complained about bottlenecks and problems with the procurement of preliminary products and raw materials in March, an increase from the already high reading of around 74% in the previous month, according to a survey by the ifo Institute (Munich; www.ifo.de).

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“The attack on Ukraine has made the situation even worse for many companies," said Klaus Wohlrabe, the institute’s head of ifo surveys. “Supply chains now have new problems to cope with on top of the existing ones. For example, 17% of German industrial companies import from Russia.”

In key sectors of German industry, the levels of concern have remained almost unchanged at a very high level. For companies in the automotive, mechanical engineering and electrical sectors, around 90% of reported delivery problems.

The figure for manufacturers of rubber and plastic goods confronted with supply issues increased to nearly 79% in March from some 76% in February. In the chemical industry, the proportion of companies displeased with raw materials deliveries surged to over 70% from around 58%.

“Companies had originally expected the situation to ease in the summer,” Wohlrabe said, noting that any relief will now take longer than anticipated.