Growing concern about supply of environmental products, warns CLC

The UK electro-technical sector has raised concerns about the supply of solar and environmental products, with regulators struggling to identify Chinese products with the proper accreditation. 

Electrical products in general remain the most problematic for construction, according to the Construction Leadership Council’s latest product availability report, with gas boilers and other products containing semi-conductors in short supply. 

Overall, the body reports good product availability, with shipping lead times from East Asia improving despite rising covid rates in China which has recently revised its zero-covid policy. 

While bricks, blocks, plasterboard and roofing products are occasionally still subject to disruption or allocation, lead times for these products are now far lower than earlier in the year. 

“A gradual slowing of demand for construction products across most sub-sectors over the last three months of 2022 has helped ease the pressures on product supply,” said John Newcomb and Peter Caplehorn, co-chairs of the product availability working group.   

“Most industry forecasts project further declines in demand in 2023 although some sub-sectors will fare better than others.   

“With less strain on the supply chain, general product availability should have an opportunity to recover further.” 

The pair reported moderating inflation across the board but said rising energy and wage costs would put upward pressure on prices in the new year, especially for energy-intensive products.