Newsletter 34- December 2008

"Keeping you Informed"

Prices

(1st Jan 06 = 100 units)

                             From 1st Dec   (1st Jan) Remarks:

                                           2008  (2008)

Merchant Bar                     134      (124)   Prices under pressure.

(Rounds, Flats, Angles etc)                      

Heavy sections                  172     (157)  Prices under pressure.

(Beams, Columns etc)                              

Hollow Sections                 154     (117)   Prices under pressure.

(Box, Tubes etc)                                     

Prices

Merchant bar prices fell dramatically in early November but rallied later in the month. Hollow sections continued their steady decline and heavy section prices weakened despite the cut in production from the mills. We are still waiting for prices to hit the bottom.

Supply

No problem at present but with dramatic destocking and production cuts we could well see some sizes in short supply.

Demand
It is difficult to find adjectives to describe the current level of demand, let's just say it could be a lot better.

Credit

Very tight, all insurers are asking for up to date accounting information and are pulling credit cover wherever they can. We continue to do battle with our insurer to make sure we can maintain limits.

Tomrods Limited

Our local wagon continues to deliver on a same day basis, please ask for this service if you need a quick delivery. Despite the economic recession we do not intend to lay off any staff and we are looking to maintain and still improve our excellent service record. We really do appreciate your orders and we hope we can count on your continued support through what will be a very testing 2009.

Thank you for reading this and if you have any comments about Tomrods Ltd or our website please email the undersigned at johnt@tomrods.co.uk

John Thompson
Managing Director -