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September 2022 - Chemicals

BPF member survey reveals that businesses are predicting profit margins will be hit hard in next 12 months – the most pessimistic predictions in a decade: A survey of British Plastics Federation (BPF) members has revealed that companies within the sector are predicting a hit to profit margins in the next 12 months, with the predictions being the most pessimistic in the last decade of the survey.

When asked about the reasoning behind these predictions, respondents pointed to the rise in energy costs as the main issue, followed by raw material, labour and transportation costs.

The BPF's Business Conditions Survey is conducted every six months with the latest survey (July 2022) also revealing that overall predictions for sales turnover have decreased from the high figures seen post pandemic as the market recovered. However, it revealed that companies are still confident of hitting the budgets set by themselves at the start of 2022.

Also revealed by the survey was that many of the companies who are predicting an increased sale turnover believe this will be due to increased costs rather than increased sales volume.

The latest survey found  that companies are now finding it easier to source polymer, with just a third (34%) citing it as a current issue, compared to 97% who were having difficulties in April 2021. Similarly, fewer companies are now experiencing issues trading with Northern Ireland (32% -- down from 47% in 2021).

Covid-19 absences were also down on last year’s figures, from 37% of companies reporting staff off with Covid, compared to around seven in 10 a year ago.

Questions around staff recruitment and retention also formed part of the study, with 84% of companies reporting they were having difficulty hiring staff -- with engineers and shop floor workers the most difficult to recruit.

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