WELLS FARCO CEO: Supply chain issues take at least 6-12 months to resolve

Financial Associated Press (Shanghai, editor Zhou Ling) -- an important factor driving soaring inflation in the United States - supply chain disruptions - faces greater challenges at the beginning of the US holiday season. Charles Scharf, CEO and president of Wells Fargo, recently said that labor shortages and supply chain crises have forced companies to raise prices, which may continue for at least 6 to 12 months.

"Such as... Wage pressures... Supply chain pressures... All of this will continue to drive the wage inflation we are currently seeing. Scharf told the media at the Milken Institute's annual global conference a few days ago. He noted that some supermarkets have predicted prices to rise.

Many industry companies have warned of the need to shop early this Christmas. Chris Butler, CEO of National Tree Company, a wholesaler of artificial Christmas trees, said not long ago, "People who want to buy Christmas trees and other decorations this holiday season, it is best to buy them before Thanksgiving, otherwise they may pay a high fee, and may not be able to buy anything at that time." He said this was due to disruptions in global supply chains.

Scharf said, "All of this is very, very realistic... [Although] all of these things will calm down and the supply chain (crisis) will be resolved, (but) I personally think it will take 6 to 12 months. ”

The impact of SMEs is likely to be greater

As U.S. companies gradually begin to raise prices for household products, economists are skeptical of what the Fed calls inflation "temporary."

One of the factors driving rising inflation is the shipping crisis that the United States is experiencing, which has affected a wide range of commodities. With many containers stranded at sea and cargo routes clogged, Lior Ron, head of Uber Freight, said this month that the U.S. was in the midst of a "shipping doomsday" and that there was no good single solution.

Barbara Humpton, CEO of Siemens USA, also told the media at the Milken conference recently that her supply chain experts expect supply chain disruptions to continue into 2022.

Others predict that supply chain disruptions will take longer to ease.

"We expect ... Supply chain tensions will continue until early 2023," Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at Copenhagen shipping trading group BIMCO, said in a recent interview, "We're basically seeing supply chains almost collapse on a global scale from end to end." ”

Scharf of Fortune Silver said that at this stage, he is also concerned about the "uniformity" of the impact of these issues on businesses and whether SMALL and medium-sized enterprises will be left far behind by large enterprises.

"When inventory levels are down, who can get the goods and who can't? Who can afford to spend money? Who can afford to pay rising wages? "It's something we have to focus on and continue to figure out how we can help them." ”