Raw material bottlenecks and massive cost increases for bitumen

Bitumen industry with unprecedented challenges

Rising Prices Due to Ukraine Conflict and Global Sanctions

Due to the war events in Ukraine and the global sanctions imposed as a result, the prices for building materials have risen extremely in some cases in recent weeks. Around 30 % of the local bitumen supply is dependent on Russia.
(Source: Circular letter of the Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport of 25.03.2022 to the road construction authorities).

More and more mineral oil companies have decided to gradually abandon the purchase of Russian crude oil and switch their supply to other sources. However, this is not easily possible from one day to the next and is already resulting in insufficient bitumen being available at the refinery sites in various regions of the Federal Republic. The eastern German locations, which are currently largely supplied via pipelines, are particularly affected.

These developments present us, and the entire bitumen processing industry, with unprecedented challenges.

The usual price and supply stability cannot be maintained under these conditions and we have to decide almost daily how and at what conditions we can still execute our orders economically.

Our team in Zwickau, together with our Group's central purchasing department in Cologne, has been working flat out for weeks to maintain the best possible supply of bitumen and raw materials. However, this can only be achieved by accepting the rapidly rising costs, so we have to constantly review our prices and adjust them to the current situation at short notice.

Our Commitment to Fair and Transparent Pricing

We promise our customers that we will only pass on the most necessary price increases and that we will also reverse them when the supply situation eases again. From our current assessment, however, this is not likely in the short term and the situation could, on the contrary, become even worse.

We ask you to support us as partners in overcoming this difficult phase and will do everything possible to continue to supply you with high-quality building protection and road construction products.

Thank you for your understanding.

Yours, Frank Metzner
Managing Director