Newsletter 13 -March 2007

"Keeping you Informed"

Prices

(1st Jan 06 = 100 units)

                            From 5th March '07      Remarks:

Merchant Bar                              116      February increase of

(Rounds, Flats, Angles etc)                   £14/t has been quickly

                                                               followed by £20/t from

                                                               1st March - more

                                                               increases will follow.

Heavy sections                          144     Further increase of

(Beams, Columns etc)                           between £30-45/t have

                                                              been announced from

                                                              1st April

Hollow Sections                         112    The pre-Christmas drop

(Box, Tubes etc)                                  in prices is being replaced                                                              by rapid increases which

                                                             will appear in the market

                                                             place sooner rather than

                                                             later.         

Supply

Merchant Bar mills are very busy and lead times have gone out to 10/12 weeks on a lot of items.

Heavy Section supply is still tight but will ease slightly over coming months.

Hollow Section supply seems to be in balance.

This is a good time to buy.

Demand
Our customers have generally good order books and the future looks promising. They are currently benefiting from fierce competition between stockholders who, as usual, are trying to get a bigger share of a static market. If supplies get tighter then the market price will increase by far more than the current mills increases.

Tomrods Limited / All Steels Trading Limited

February has followed January and was just as busy, although margins are still under pressure. We welcome Tony Addle to our No2 warehouse at Manse Lane and look forward to welcoming Sarah Jacobs back in April after her confinement.

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