Reuters
Analysis-After explosion in costs, central Europe’s factories are passing on the pain
The family firm’s challenge is mirrored in thousands of companies across central Europe, big and small, which are grappling with soaring costs for everything from parts, materials and transport to energy and growing wage demands. “We are an energy-consuming (firm), so it’s had a huge impact,” Benes a Lat’s Chief Financial Officer Jan Lat said. Where companies are successful in sharing the pain, this feeds into consumer inflation and adds to a price spike in central Europe that has been stronger than elsewhere on the continent due to the region’s consumer-driven recoveries and ultra-tight labour markets.
