German lubricant and aftermarket additive manufacturer Liqui Moly reported 26% higher sales for the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period in 2020. Although demand was higher, raw material supply bottlenecks hindered sales, the company said.
The company reported €554 million (U.S. $643 million) in sales revenue for first three quarters of 2021. “And it could be even more if we only got enough ingredients for the production of our oils and additives,” Managing Director Ernst Prost said in a news release.
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“This is not just about the fact that our purchase prices have increased significantly. Some raw materials are temporarily no longer available, even if you are prepared to put a lot of money on that table.” He likened the situation to that of the auto industry, which has to cut back on production because semiconductor chips are in short supply.
Prost noted that the company had higher sales revenue in the first nine months than it did in all of 2018, adding that it had set a company record for each respective month this year since February. According to Liqui Moly, the increase is significantly greater internationally than in the German home market where the company has long been established. In the United States, which the company considers its most important export market, sales in the first nine months grew by almost 50%, and in Italy they more than doubled.
The company said the increased sales reflected investments that it made a year ago, including greater spending on marketing and the hiring of more than 100 employees, to brace itself against the effects of the pandemic. “Back then, that was at the expense of earnings, and now [it is] paying off,” the company stated.