Davos updates | VW: Supply chain woes ease; orders backed up

Davos, May 26 (AP): Executives with German automaker Volkswagen say at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos that supply chain problems exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine war are easing but they're dealing with a huge backlog of order.

Davos updates | VW: Supply chain woes ease; orders backed up

Davos, May 26 (AP): Executives with German automaker Volkswagen say at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos that supply chain problems exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine war are easing but they're dealing with a huge backlog of orders.

Audi board member Hildegard Wortmann says the VW-owned brand has its “highest level of orders at the moment,” but customers are facing wait times of about year or more.

Chairman Herbert Diess says Volkswagen is seeing a “clear improvement through summer” on the supply of microchips it needs for its vehicles.

Diess says the automaker has no plans to pull out of China's Xinjiang region, where it has for years operated a factory and showrooms, despite repeated reports of abuses against ethnic Muslim groups there.

He says that while the company's Xinjiang operations are a negligible part of its overall China business, “we think that we would worsen the situation for the people working in this plant and most importantly for the entire region if we would pull out.” Diess says being present in Xinjiang means VW's standards are respected and it can control the situation. He didn't elaborate.

___ The head of the World Trade Organisation said that leaders in developed nations will need to “have the courage” to reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

At a separate session Wednesday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala also called for countries to avoid export restrictions on food as Russia prevents shiploads of Ukrainian grain from getting to poorer countries.

On a climate panel, she says it's tough to tell voters that “they're not going to have gas for heating and cooking. But sometimes if you're a brave leader, you have to have the courage to tell people that these are the tough choices we have to make.” Okonjo-Iweala also says the COVID-19 pandemic showed that rich nations do have the funding to deal with global emergencies, raising questions for poorer countries who were promised $100 billion to combat climate change.

In a panel on trade, she says 25 million tons of grain from Ukraine need be evacuated and another harvest is coming next month. She says, “This food crisis is real and we must find solutions." Europe is helping with land routes to get grain to ports in Poland other countries, and officials say there are talks on creating secure sea corridors.

Okonjo-Iweala says 22 WTO members have export restrictions, which she hopes to lower to avoid price spikes that exacerbate the problem. (AP) SCY SCY

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