Back then, I really thought that when the vaccine finally received its approval, everything would quickly return to normal. That was obviously overoptimism, which overestimated the political and administrative capacity of our country.
Nevertheless, after enough perseverance, many things got better in the summer of 2021. Business trips became possible again, companies could be visited and lectures and trade fairs took place. It seemed as if we had made it through the pandemic. But the Corona virus is obviously not so easy to place in a taxidermy jar on the trophy shelf of vanquished threats. Experts believe that the Delta variant will continue to dominate the pandemic until early 2022, when Omicron is expected to successively take over. And presumably, this will not be the last variant to cause us headaches.
Nevertheless - it can be assumed that many things will be better in 2022. At the beginning of 2020, there was obviously sheer panic in many executive suites about - well, let's call it by its name - the demise of the consumerist industrial society we know. But as we now know, this fear was exaggerated to such an extent. Nevertheless, the decisions made in this mood have played a significant role in many supply bottlenecks to this day. The good news, however, is that this excitement has given way to objectivity, and the debate about the pandemic has become more constructive. Nevertheless, it is likely to be some time before global trade flows settle down again. Credit insurer Euler Hermes expects the tug-of-war over goods to continue until mid-2022. Overall, global trade in 2021 is expected to increase by around 8% year-on-year in terms of the volume of goods and services traded, and by as much as 18% in terms of value. Over the next two years, global trade volumes are expected to gradually work their way up to pre-crisis levels at +5.4% in 2022 and +4% in 2023. Even if this does not mean that we will now overcome all problems and obstacles in the area of infrastructure and logistics in no time at all, these are encouraging prospects for the global economy - and thus also for our surface industry. Let's keep our fingers crossed that most of the trade fairs and events can take place in 2022 and that we can look forward to a PaintExpo, a SurfaceTechnology and parts2clean and many other events.
So then - here's to a good year 2022!
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