The year 2019 was very successful for the foundry industry and related industries. Unfortunately, the following year brought the COVID-19 pandemic, which stopped the development and caused a decrease in production in all branches related to casting. This decrease was felt in all European countries, and in most of them, quite drastic. China became the first country to introduce a total production blockade because of COVID-19. However, China was also the first country to return to a positive GDP result for 2020 (+ 2.4%). This year Turkey also achieved a positive GDP (+1.8%). Other countries felt the effects of the pandemic even more, and quite clearly, in the second quarter of 2020. When the lockdown was introduced in Europe, production in various industries significantly slowed down or even stopped. The year 2020 also brought a significant increase in inflation, as can be seen in Graph 1.

You grant credit payment terms to your customers every day. And because it's a standard way of doing business, you may need to consider the risk you are taking.

If you are a buyer negotiating with suppliers, you should not only listen carefully and ask smart questions but also make sure that you do not talk too much. Remember that the primary goal of all negotiations is to get more. Local German SMEs, for example, prefer to take the form of a multinational by buying directly from Chinese suppliers and integrating Chinese suppliers into their own business. International buyers generally consider "cultural differences" and "cross-cultural communication" as one of the main barriers to international sourcing. In the following article, we share five tips from our negotiation experience with you.

For many companies, suppliers are like the source of rivers, essential and indispensable. However, in the current era of information flow, looking for a supplier without very specific objectives is equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack. Thus, let us share some of our experience in two aspects: how to find and how to choose a suitable supplier.