Steel Bulletin News August 2013

PRICES

There is a lot of activity concerning prices and not just small scrap price readjustments.  Merchant bar prices have been increased from immediate effect by £15/t and we have been informed that there will be another £20/t increase by mid-August at the latest (+7%).  Confidence in the European industrial sector is growing and this has encouraged steel mills to look for better prices.  We expect heavy section prices to increase by at least £30/t (maybe £50/t) by September and most other products will follow.

You may ask why the prices are moving up as scrap remains at a low level.  Steel prices are now international and movements in China and the Far East influence us all, even in the back streets of Yorkshire.  Prices slipped during the first half of the year for no particular reason and they are now recovering from this artificial low level.  If you need more up to date information please contact our sales department on 01845 528200.

SUPPLY

The supply side is in balance although stock levels are generally low.  Mills are all on their summer shut downs and if there is an increase in demand due to price increases, a very possible development, then some sizes will not be available until October/November.  Over the past few years everyone, including stockholders, has become used to picking up out of stock sizes on an ex stock basis; this might not be the case over the next couple of months.  We would advise caution and please do not automatically assume all sizes will be available ex stock.

TOMRODS LTD

We continue to prosper and we are ahead of 2013 budgets and last year’s figures.  Most of our customers are also busy and we are definitely developing a feel good factor, OK I will say it, we are seeing the green shoots of recovery.  There are still lots of problems in the steel sector, including securing sufficient credit limits from our insurance provider QBE who still think that anything “steel” related is bad news.  Our new website is now up and running and we hope you will find it informative and of course useful.  We will shortly be sending out invitations to our open day, which is to be held on Saturday 5th October and we hope many of you will be able to come along.

Finally we would like to welcome Lorraine Taylor to our administration department and she will be looking after our purchase ledger, no doubt we will be paying our suppliers even more quickly than we do now!!  Thank you for reading this and if you have any comments about Tomrods Ltd or our website please e-mail the undersigned at johnt@tomrods.co.uk