Shortages throughout the supply chains on which corporate America depends are translating into widespread inflationary pressure, a string of US companies revealed this week, disrupting their operations and forcing them to raise prices for their customers.
Whirlpool on Friday blamed “inefficiencies across the supply chain” for “pretty brutal” increases in prices for steel, resin and other materials, saying these would add almost $1bn to the appliance manufacturer’s costs this year.
“On any given day, something is out of stock in the store,” said Vivek Sankaran, chief executive of Albertsons, likening the grocery chain’s efforts to respond to successive challenges to a game of Whac-A-Mole.