Newsletter 25- March 2008

"Keeping you Informed"

Prices

(1st Jan 06 = 100 units)

                            From 1stMarch    (1st Jan) Remarks:

                                           2008    (2008)

Merchant Bar                     142      (124)    Prices have gone up

(Rounds, Flats, Angles etc)                       very quickly - more

                                                                   increases expected

                                                                   soon.

Heavy sections                  162     (157)    Prices will be

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

                                                                  from April, another

                                                                  increase is expected

                                                                  July 2008.                                                                   

Hollow Sections                 139     (117)    Prices have started to

(Box, Tubes etc)                                        rise  dramatically and

                                                                   we expect our price

                                                                   index to be over 150

                                                                   by mid year.

Price Alert

International prices have continued to move forward very quickly and although we expect prices to start levelling out by the summer, this will be after we have seen 25% plus increases in most products.                                                                   

Supply

Mills are busy. There are no real capacity problems but as prices continue to forge ahead stock building is creating longer lead times.

Demand
February was a busy month for us and March 2008 has also started well. The market genrally is still slow, but demand for steel related products is holding up exceptionally well, especially with all the doom and gloom for other industrial sectors.

Tomrods Limited

Our new sawing line has been successful and we are now ahead of our incoming order level. Rising prices is good for all steel stockholders but due to the level of service and price stability that we give our customers, we are still waiting to see an impact on our bottom line.

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 -