Swiss firms choose new suppliers as pandemic rewires trade

Swiss businesses are increasingly adjusting their supply chains as they battle through the pandemic, choosing to place more orders with European firms, a survey found.

A Credit Suisse Group AG and procure.ch poll published on Wednesday found that approximately half the companies said they’d adapted their supply chains, up from one in three firms surveyed a year ago. It showed 18% said they were purchasing more within Switzerland, while 16% were looking at European suppliers.

Disruptions to international trade tied to Covid-19 outbreaks and uneven patterns of demand have pushed up shipping costs and is leading to shortages of inputs such as semiconductors.

Swiss machine maker Feintool International Holding AG joined the likes of Siemens AG to BMW AG when last month it warned that bottlenecks and the surging price of steel were endangering the recovery. 

Still, Switzerland’s purchasing manager’s index for the manufacturing sector remains firmly in the growth zone, despite having slipped from to 67.7 in August from 71.1 in July.