Newsletter 35- Review December 2008

"Keeping you Informed"

WE WISH ALL OUR CUSTOMERS AND SUPPLIERS A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PROSPEROUS AND PEACEFUL NEW YEAR.

Prices

(1st Jan 06 = 100 units)

                             From 1st Jan   (1st Jan) Remarks:

                                           2009  (2008)

Merchant Bar                     134      (124)   Prices under pressure.

(Rounds, Flats, Angles etc)                      

Heavy sections                  172     (157)  Prices under pressure.

(Beams, Columns etc)                              

Hollow Sections                 154     (117)   Prices under pressure.

(Box, Tubes etc)                                     

Prices

Merchant bar prices fell dramatically in early November but rallied later in the month. Hollow sections continued their steady decline and heavy section prices weakened despite the cut in production from the mills. Prices have rallied recently with the weakening of the £ against the Euro and Dollar. We are constantly watching the market.

Supply

No problem at present but with dramatic destocking and production cuts we could well see some sizes in short supply.

Demand
It is difficult to find adjectives to describe the current level of demand, let's just say it could be a lot better.

Credit

Very tight, all insurers are asking for up to date accounting information and are pulling credit cover wherever they can. We continue to do battle with our insurer to make sure we can maintain limits.

Tomrods Limited

Congratulations to Stuart and Heather Pettitt on the birth of Max, we wish them a joyous and peaceful Christmas. We will posting our annual review in January so we hope you will take the time to visit our website.

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 -