Newsletter 29- July 2008

"Keeping you Informed"

Prices

(1st Jan 06 = 100 units)

                            From 1st July    (1st Jan) Remarks:

                                           2008    (2008)

Merchant Bar                     215      (124)    Prices expected to

(Rounds, Flats, Angles etc)                       remain stable through

                                                                   August but start to

                                                                   increase again in

                                                                   September.                                                                

Heavy sections                  185     (157)   An increase of

(Beams, Columns etc)                               £90/t from 1st

                                                                  August, plus another                                                                   £90/t from 1st

                                                                  September.                                                                                                     

Hollow Sections                 203      (117)  Still more to come.

(Box, Tubes etc)                                      

Price Alert

International prices continue to move forward very quickly and as you can see from our price index, prices are continuing to forge ahead. There seems to be no respite with these increases as more and more raw materials are "sucked" out of the European supply chain into the emerging Chinese and Indian markets. However August should see some stability before all markets return to work in September.

Supply

Mills are busy, some however are seeing raw material shortages limit production. Price rises will be further fuelled by these shortages. We urge all customers to get in touch with us so we can, wherever possible, allocate steel to your account minimising future price increases.

Demand
June was better than May but still sluggish. The market generally is still slow and there are a lot of dark clouds on the horizon. What will happen over the next few months will dictate price levels.

Credit

As the price of steel continues to surge ahead, approved credit limits need to be increased. If you have a large order to place please give us plenty of notice.

Tomrods Limited

During June we finalised, along with Boswell Steels, the purchase of Brad;ey Steels in Wolverhampton. We can now offer merchant bar and hollow sections for immediate delivery in the West Midlands. We hope that all our customers will benefit from the additional purchasing power we will now possess. A website will follow.

On a social note we sponsoed a race at Beverley on 24th June @ 4.15pm - the Tomrods Steel Stockholders Maiden Stakes - we did not get any 'tips' and we did not win any money, but it was a great day out.

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 -