As for when the demand will return to previous levels ? That's difficult to predict but experience tells us the market
will stabilize. It always does.
It's a common mistake to underestimate the size of the U.S. economy.
It's enormous. The U.S.A. is the 3rd most populous nation in the world; only India and China have larger populations. And that U.S. population is wealthy when compared to other parts of the world.
It is VERY easy to get into a bubble and lose track of the incredible size of the U.S. economy.
Here are a few examples:
The U.S. consumes approximately 337 MILLION gallons of gasoline per
DAY.
The types and amounts of petroleum products consumed annually in the United States, and a list of the top 5 gasoline consuming states.
www.eia.gov
The U.S. consumes 450 Million cups of coffee, per day
About 500 billion cups of coffee is consumed across the globe in a typical year. That’s roughly equivalent to about 2.25 billion cups of coffee per day, every day making it one of the most popular drinks. The U.S. and Canada celebrate National...
muchneeded.com
The U.S. beer industry ships an average of 17.36 Million gallons of beer per day. (204.8 million barrel per year, 31 gallons to the barrel)
Learn fast facts on the U.S. beer and beverage industry.
www.nbwa.org
Primers are produced by a few American companies and imported into America by a few more foreign companies. A large portion of the domestic primer production goes directly to large scale ammunition manufacturers. The number of primers sold directly to individuals engaged in reloading is a small fraction of the total primer supply. Prior to the current situation, the supply of primers (domestic and imported) was far MORE than enough to meet the demands of both ammunition manufacturers and reloaders.
When one looks at the size of the U.S. economy, it becomes clear that even a small increase in demand will involve HUGE numbers.
For example, If only 1/3 of the people in America used 1 more gallon of gasoline per day, that daily gasoline usage would increase by over 100 million gallons a day. In an economy this large, it doesn't take much to generate big numbers.
Just like a run on a bank, or say,....a toilet paper "shortage"; when people feel the supply is no longer in jeopardy, the demand will return to normal.
When people are fearful they will not be able to get what they want, they will buy every example of that item they can find and pay far more for those examples than they would normally tolerate.
The key to this ammunition component shortage will be an emotional tipping point when buyers are no longer fearful the supply is in jeopardy.
The market will become saturated, components will be available for purchase and prices will drop.
We've been through this before.