Newsletter 28- June 2008

"Keeping you Informed"

Prices

(1st Jan 06 = 100 units)

                            From 1st June     (1st Jan) Remarks:

                                           2008    (2008)

Merchant Bar                     202       (124)    A further £100/t to be

(Rounds, Flats, Angles etc)                       announced from 1st

                                                                   July.

Heavy sections                  177     (157)   An increase of

(Beams, Columns etc)                               £80 announced from

                                                                  29th June plus a

                                                                  further £90/t from

                                                                  1st August.                                                                                                          

Hollow Sections                 190     (117)    More increases on

(Box, Tubes etc)                                        their way, we expect.

                                                                  our prices to reach 200

                                                                  (i.e. double Jan 06

                                                                  levels) by mid year.

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.

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
May was a slow month. The market generally is still slow, but the demand for steel related products is holding up well, although there are a lot of dark clouds on the horizon.

Fuel Increases

As you are all no doubt well aware fuel increases over the last few months have been impossible to absord so we will be increasing our standard handling charges shortly. More information to follow.

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

May was a month of two halves, it started well and then finished poorly, mainly due to quite a few customers taking the Whitsun week off. We are always hopeful June will start and finish well.

On a social note we are sponsoring a race at Beverley on 24th June @ 4.15pm - the Tomrods Steel Stockholders Maiden Stakes - if we get any 'tips' we will try to let as many of you know as we can.

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 -