Automotive industry in 1st quarter 2022 REPORT

Interesting conclusions about the automotive market can be drawn from a study conducted by the Association of Automotive Parts Distributors and Manufacturers and Santander Bank Polska in cooperation with MotoFocus.pl. To what extent has the situation on the parts market changed due to Russia's military aggression against Ukraine?

Wyniki dystrybutorów części motoryzacyjnych Results of automotive parts distributors

The seasonal increase in sales of spare parts distributors turned out to be so significant, that it is difficult to look for the consequences of perturbations related to the war in Ukraine in the results of the survey. The explanation for this may be the fact that many distributors are conducting a very strong expansion into Central European markets, which compensates them for certain fluctuations on the domestic market, as well as for the increase in the prices of goods.

Distributors are also currently struggling with the consequences of increased costs of doing business. In the case of this group of companies the most noticeable was the increase in the cost of transport (fuel).

Similarly to parts producers, distributors have not been so far very active on the Russian or Belarusian market. In the light of the current crisis caused by the war, this is certainly beneficial. It is worth noting that almost half of the respondents did not export to these countries.

In case of Ukraine, the situation looks different. The majority of Polish distributors sold parts to Ukraine, although for most of them (over ¾ of companies) it was not a large percentage of their business. Distributors who had sales to Russia and Belarus before the outbreak of war, as well as to Ukraine, drastically reduced (62% of them recorded decreases ranging from 75 to 100%) their activity in these countries after February 24.