The industry is continuing to pull out of the combined blights of supply bottlenecks and soaring prices with now only a third (34%) of firms reporting problems last month against nearly half (47%) in November, while input price inflation fell to the lowest level in nine months.
However, the latest figures from IHS Markit / CIPS warn that transportation issues and driver shortages remain a serious problem and now make up most of the issues over delivery times.
The improvement in supply problems is further good news as the previous 47% was itself a major improvement over the June peak of 77% https://www.the-glazine.com/?p=4805
Overall construction activity continued to grow but the rate of expansion slowed down significantly, with many citing tighter pandemic restrictions and increasing number of cases as a brake on recovery. This was especially noted in the commercial sector, while residential construction now showed the strongest growth.
Tim Moore, Director at IHS Markit, said: “UK construction companies ended last year on a slightly weaker footing as renewed pandemic restrictions held back the recovery, especially in commercial work and civil engineering. Some firms commented on disruption from rising COVID-19 cases, while others noted a lack of new work to sustain the rapid growth rates seen earlier in 2021.
“The worst phase of supplier delays seems to have passed as the availability of construction products and materials continued to turn a corner in December. While suppliers to the construction sector have caught up on backlogged work and boosted capacity, there were still widespread reports citing unresolved transportation issues and driver shortages.
“Input cost inflation moved down another notch in December, helped by the alleviation of some supply chain pressures. The latest rise in purchasing prices was far slower than the 24-year peak seen last June.”
