Newsletter 24- February 2008

"Keeping you Informed"

Prices

(1st Jan 06 = 100 units)

                            From 1st Feb     (1st Jan) Remarks:

                                           2008    (2007)

Merchant Bar                     131      (112)    Prices going up very

(Rounds, Flats, Angles etc)                       quickly - more

                                                                   increases expected

                                                                   soon.

Heavy sections                  157     (135)    Prices will be

(Beams, Columns etc)                               increased by £50-£60/t

                                                                  from April.

Hollow Sections                 127     (118)    Prices will rise

(Box, Tubes etc)                                        dramatically over the

                                                                   next few months by

                                                                   as much as £90/t

Price Alert

International prices over January have moved forward very quickly and if this trend continues we could see a very volitile market place. If some pundits are to be believed 2008 could mirror 2004.                                                                   

Supply

Mills are busy but are reluctant to offer prices until cost prices level out. There are no real capacity problems but if prices continue to forge ahead stock building will quickly create long lead times.

Demand
January was a busy month for us and February 2008 has also started well. The market generally is still slow, but the forecast is still optimistic for the rest of Quarter  1.

Tomrods Limited

The strong demand for processing and sawing has led to our installation of another saw line and another 15,000 sq ft of warehousing and storage. This illustrates how quickly we can react to our customers' needs.

The whole company enjoyed a bowling and curry night and the best scores were recorded by Stuart Pettitt (147) followed closely by Bernard O'Connell (138). I understand that David Horsman had the hottest curry.

The results for January will continue the trend set in 2007 and we will record a profit for the month.

If you require any further information please give either myself or one of my sales colleagues a call.

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 -