Global economies bounced back strongly in 2021, even as outbreaks of covid continued to disrupt supply chains around the world. Overall, world GDP expanded by 6.1% according to the IMF, a marked contrast to the near 5% contraction recorded in 2020. However, the recovery was far from painless. The story of international construction markets in 2021 is a near-universal tale of resource constraint, disrupted delivery and rising prices. Clients that set out to “build back better” found themselves struggling to deliver their programmes.

There were many triggers for the difficult market conditions that were experienced across global markets. Ultimately a combination of reduced inventory and stretched supply chains in all markets set off a sequence of mostly unrelated problems that combined into the biggest products and materials squeeze in 30-40 years.

Sky-high iron-ore prices, record container rates, volatile energy prices and shortages of key components such as microchips were all symptoms of wider problems caused by the simultaneous reopening of developed economies.

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