Lack of Global Supplies Impacting Oklahoma Demand

For Norman's Lucinda Francis, the cost of the plywood doubled.

“The roofer told us this type of shingles would take many months if we can get them at all,” Francis said.

That's the stuff we need but the same is true for what we want. The golf season is here, but chances are your new clubs are not.

Stan Ball with Ball Golf said new orders take at least six to eight weeks now.

 “Every time we call it’s a different story,” Ball said.

David Dominiak with Cali Customs is in neutral, waiting on accessories for pick-ups.

“They don’t give us a timeline on when that material is going to be coming in,” Dominiak said. “For specific tires, I’m missing the wheels so I’m probably going to sit on these.”

At least some trucks are rolling in but it’s not fast enough for Dale Daniels of Reynolds Ford. His two lots are filled with open spaces, where new vehicles would be.

“We’ve never gotten this low. A year ago, at this dealership, we had $30 million in new vehicles. Today this store has $5 million in new vehicles,” Daniels said.

The issue? No microchips.

“It’s not unusual to have north of 3,000 microchips in every car,” Daniels said.

A fire at one of the world's leading auto chip makers in Japan this year has added to a new vehicle shortage, no matter the make or model.

News 9 asked Ken Peterson with the Price Business College at the University pf Oklahoma about what’s happening with the supply chain.

“We’re shipping stuff halfway around the world to consumer markets in the United States and in a stable world that works really, really well. It’s profitable and makes sense to do it,” Peterson said.

Peterson said global trade became less stable about five years ago with the China trade wars.

“It became more expensive to do global trade and that just progressed. We charged more and more that we were importing and exporting with China,” he said.

Peterson also pointed to economic nationalism, like when the United Kingdom left the European Union. Cargo ships are delivering to the U.K. but exporting less. The actual shipping containers are getting stuck in the U.K., adding fuel to a global shipping container shortage.

“Not only did the pandemic contract manufacturing activity around the world, it contractually changed shipping infrastructure,” Peterson said.

It’s also added to the price of plywood, PVC and Romex wiring going into new and remodeled homes.

“A roll of Romex a year ago was probably $60 and now it’s about $160,” Clayton Coker with Five-Star Electric said.

A national chlorine shortage means there is a one bucket limit at Aquascape pools. That’s not all.

“We cannot get pumps for a lot of the pools that need to be fixed,” Aquascape’s Holly Aparicio said.

The pump shortage is partly due to the hundreds of thousands of pools in Texas in need of repairs after February's historic arctic storm.

“Even if some places do have stuff, they can’t get it shipped,” Aparicio said.

It can’t be shipped due to the shortage of truck drivers. Last month, a Texas company started offering drivers $14,000 a week to hit the road.

“As long as the world doesn't fundamentally change for a year or two, things will be back to some new normal. It’s not going to be like two years ago but it’s going to be good,” Peterson said.