Corona puts pressure on the resource market – the principle of “Circular Economy” helps to reduce tension
SECONTRADE, the B2B trading platform for secondary raw materials, has been in operation since 2018. Since then, around 200 commodity and raw material traders from 24 different countries have been using the potential of the European market for secondary raw materials with just a few clicks; until now, more than 33,000 tonnes of high-quality secondary raw materials have been traded online via SECONTRADE.
SECONTRADE’s most important markets are Austria, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Poland.
Material costs make up 40 % of total costs in the producing industry
“The Corona pandemic has been putting pressure on the resource market for more than a year. With the continuing shortage of raw materials, the importance of recycling will grow even more,” Brigitte Reich, managing director of SECONTRADE, is certain. “After all,” Reich continues, “in the production economy, material costs make up an amount of 40% on average, which can be explained, for example, by the worldwide increase in freight costs for raw materials. An easing on the raw materials market is therefore not yet in view in the short term, we expect an easing in 8 to 10 months at the earliest, i.e. in the fall of 2022.“
According to the German Leibniz Institute for Economic Research ifo, more than 70% of all production companies in Germany complain not only about supply shortages for intermediate products such as computer chips, but also for raw materials themselves.
Especially impacted: Producers of electrical equipment
Producers in the electrical and electronics industry as well as in the automotive industry are especially impacted. 9 out of 10 producers of electrical systems and equipment, as well as the automotive sector, suffer massively from more difficult material procurement. In mechanical engineering, the figure is still 81% and even more than half of the food producers are affected by the shortage of raw materials in the area of packaging.
The principle of the “Circular Economy”, which SECONTRADE is based on, is an essential part in order to allow high-quality secondary raw materials to return to the production cycle.
Certified raw material traders are offered a large selection of qualitatively valuable processed secondary raw materials in-time, which significantly simplifies access to an independent, regional raw material supply.
Dealing with the current raw materials crisis with SECONTRADE
In this way, raw materials such as aluminium, iron, copper, wood and various plastic fractions flow back into the production cycle, existing resources of primary materials are conserved and freight costs are minimised due to often significantly shorter routes. “In this way,” says Reich, “we are making a significant contribution to overcoming the current raw materials crisis!“
