While COVID restrictions in China [where key automotive resources and materials originate] are just now starting to ease slightly, Russia’s military assault on Ukraine has kept the global supply-chain situation unstable. Inflation hovers at undesirable levels, and it’s most noticeable in America at the gas pump. Labor shortages and sometimes astronomical shipping and transportation costs have sent ripples of concern through specific economic sectors.
Christian Hinton, in a January 31 article for SEMA, wrote that more than 80 percent of its members have experienced supply-chain disturbances and that prices are expected to remain elevated into 2023. Despite that, he said, the specialty-equipment market continues to grow and that SEMA calculated the worst is behind us. In the Camping World Drag Racing Series, teams from the big-budgeted ones to the small-resource entries report they’re doing fine so far and are keeping their fingers crossed.
Don Schumacher, who has his Top Fuel operation and two Factory Stock Showdown cars, is keeping a close eye on the availability of raw materials because of his interconnected DSM Precision Manufacturing. According to jpmorgan.com’s May 25 article, “Ukraine is the largest exporter of alumina to Russia and operations were suspended in early March. The potential for alumina shortages is an immediate and tangible issue, which could be problematic for supply chains, as aluminum is a critical metal used in packaging, transport (automobiles and aerospace), renewable energy infrastructure, and wiring.”