Newsletter 61 - February 2011

"FEBRUARY STEEL BULLETIN "

Prices

(1st Jan 06 = 100 units)

                        From 1st Feb   (1st Feb) Last 12 months

                                     2011  (2010)    High           Low

Merchant Bar                 163  (130)     186 (05/10) 130 (02/10)

(Rounds, Flats, Angles etc)                      

Heavy sections              163  (132)     186 (02/11) 132 (02/10)

(Beams, Columns etc)                              

Hollow Sections             160  (135)     177 (05/10) 135 (02/10)  

(Box, Tubes etc)                                     

Prices

Tata (Corus) have announced an increase of £95/tonne from 6th March on all heavy sectionsthis is in addition to the £50/tonne introduced on 4th January. Merchant bar prices moved forard by £50/tonne in January and we expect more increases will be announced during February. Hollow sections increased by £50/tonne during January and they will continue to increase in the short term by at least a further £50/tonne.

We predicted prices would ocntinue to rise and escalating costs of coking coal, energy, iron ore and scrap will further fuel these increases. We strongly recommend that you check with our sales department (01845 528200) because prices are moving forward very rapidly and we anticipate your steel costs will continue to rise during February and March.

Supply/Demand

Supply in the short term is becoming very tight despite real demand remaining very subdued.

Carriage

With the introduction of 20% VAT and escalating costs of diesel we have reluctantly been forced to increase our transport costs by £2/drop. This will be charged from 1st March and we hope that this small increase will not cause you any significant difficulties.

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 -