Con­tinu­ing prob­lems in the global sup­ply chains and the related prob­lems in the auto­mot­ive industry in par­tic­u­lar threaten to limit the recov­ery of the foundry industry and do not bode well for the first quarter of 2022. Mean­while, the hor­rendous costs for raw mater­i­als and energy are caus­ing tre­mend­ous dif­fi­culties in eco­nomic pro­duc­tion for the energy-intens­ive foundry industry at the begin­ning of winter. This con­stel­la­tion is reflec­ted in the sharpest month-to-month decline of the FISI since April 2020.