Rising prices for everything from fried chicken in London to electricity in Singapore. The global economy is caught in the perfect storm

Swedish furniture and home furnishings maker IKEA has warned that shortages due to the supply chain crisis could last until August 2022. This was announced by the CEO of Inter IKEA, the global franchisor of the brand, John Abrahamsson.

Lack of shipping containers and congested ports make it difficult for retail logistics around the world. To cope with the situation, Abrahamsson said the company had to focus its offering on top-selling products. “The biggest problem is the delivery of products from China, where opportunities are now very limited,” said the head of Inter IKEA. He noted that stores in North America suffered the most from the shortage of goods, followed by Europe.

In the United States, President Joe Biden has called on private businesses to help resolve the supply crisis ahead of the winter holidays. The 24/7 operation of ports and logistics companies will help eliminate problems in the US supply chain, he said. Biden noted that the country’s two busiest ports – Los Angeles and Long Beach – are moving to a round-the-clock operation to handle about 500,000 containers on ships that have piled up while awaiting calls at these ports. Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Samsung and other major retailers, as well as logistics companies FedEx and UPS, will operate overnight to establish supply chains, Biden said.

Even in Japan, where economic growth was still weak during the pandemic, consumers and businesses are facing rising prices for basic commodities.

The head of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, on Tuesday, October 12, tried to reduce worries about inflation, calling the price surge temporary. At the same time, more and more economists, according to Reuters, expect that inflation in the euro area will reach 4% by the end of the year, which is twice the target of the ECB, and that it will remain above the target throughout 2022.

Power depletion suggests a bleak winter outlook in parts of the world. Energy problems in China and India threaten economic growth in Asia and around the world.

China is facing an energy crisis amid rising prices for oil, gas and coal. Chinese coal futures hit a record high at the end of September. This was due to the increased demand for energy from industrial enterprises in China, which are increasing production volumes after the pandemic, as well as a drop in the volume of coal production in the country’s mines.

Some regional authorities have already had to cut the supply of electricity for industrial production, resulting in a decline in industrial production in China for the first time in 18 months. Some regions experienced massive power outages.

The energy crisis in China, fueled by a shortage of coal, high fuel prices and fast-growing industrial demand after the pandemic, has halted production, including at factories supplying major brands like Apple.

At the same time, India is experiencing a serious shortage of coal, which is a key raw material for the country’s generating companies. Coal India, the world’s largest coal producer, has said it is temporarily suspending supplies to non-energy customers. Economists warn that supply problems could lead to a decline in industrial production in India, which is just beginning to approach pre-crisis levels.

There is little sign of a delay in any electricity costs, with Brent crude futures above $ 84 / bbl on the expectation that a surge in natural gas prices will lead to a switch to oil to meet winter heating needs.

The situation is complicated by the rise in oil prices amid increasing signs of strong demand and reduced supply over the next few months, as the rapid rise in gas and coal prices triggered a switch to petroleum products. Futures for Brent crude oil are traded above $ 84 per barrel, WTI crude – $ 82 per barrel. Analysts point to a sharp decline in oil reserves in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to their lowest level since 2015. The global energy crisis is expected to increase oil demand by half a million barrels per day, which could accelerate inflation and slow the global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Thursday.

Leading economic institutions in Germany have lowered their joint growth forecast for Europe’s largest economy in 2021 to 2.4% from 3.7% as supply problems continue to hold back production. Meanwhile, inflation in 2022 will be 2.5%, institutions predict. Consumer prices are expected to rise 1.7% in 2023.

In Singapore, two electricity suppliers, including one of the largest independent ones, are leaving the market, while three others have stopped accepting new customers due to the rapid rise in wholesale electricity prices, writes Reuters.

The average US retail price of a gallon of gasoline is at its highest in seven years, and fuel costs are projected to rise in the winter.

The global crisis is now also in the automotive industry, which has suffered more than other sectors of the economy from the shortage of semiconductors caused by the decline in their production in Asia. A shortage of semiconductors has forced automakers, which are still recovering from the pandemic, to halt production again.