Following on from the thread on doner cars.
Did a bit of dgging today.
Price of steel has increased nearly 40% since christmas.
There is gonna be another big price hike in June.
Quotes for steel are only valid for 7 hours. (this is for commercial, don't know about small order retail)

Cost for steel for a Locost chassis may not be huge but if you're gonna do it get your steel ordered quick and save a few quid.

John

My mate who knows several banger drivers said that they were all happy about the prices they are getting for their mangled cars.

That of course also means some scrappies are collecting cars AND giving you money for them... time to get rid of that old car maybe (not all scrappies are paying though, some just doing it for free )

Cheers
David

A local engineering firm who makes allsorts of odd things has had to increase it's prices as it lost out big style on a job it quoted on because when the materials were ordered they cost them 20% more.....so be warned things will go up and that includes kit car related stuff.

Heard this myself the other day apparently the cost of steel and owt made from it is about to rocket.
Cheers,
Bob

[Edited on 21/4/04 by splitrivet]

I heard this a couple of weeks ago. My mate's a buyer for Jaguar and he said the prices are rising all the time. Apparently it's down to massive construction works in China and far east. He gave me an anecdote where one boat of steel was re-routed 4 times en-route to China as different parties gazumped each other to get it's cargo. It's price had risen by so-many million pounds during it's journey.

He says it's causing a problem because it's going into buildings, so won't be appearing on the scrap market for at least another 30 years or so.

He did point out that scrappies were no more keen to get their hands on defuncy vehicles. Watch those scrap Sierra's prices rise!

Cheers,

Neil.

might be time to invest in bulk!

Noodle's friend is right, basically the Chinese are cramming a 10 year building scheme into 5 years. I work in a steel fabrication factory, and since christmas all steel prices have risen by 50% to 80% for rolled mild steel (don't even ask about stainless) - and this after 20 years of consistant rates. It's not just the big steel either, the steel cladding we use on the buildings, and even the nuts and bolts they are held together with are going up - and there are no signs whatsoever of price rises stopping, or even slowing down.

We had a guy into work today from the crowd that supply's shot for the shotblaster, to kindly let us know that shot prices are going up too, which really came as a surprise to me, this is because shot is produced from scrap metal (grade 1 steel only, so Sierras are safe ) - and the Chinese are even buying this up! I would be worrying, if this wasn't the busiest we have been for a year.

Mark

Yes, I work at the only steel tube piercing mill left in the UK and we are very busy at the moment re-arranging contracts etc. the ones fixed for a year are a real problem at the moment!!! Shipping to China and the far easy is getting pricey too!!

Yeah, my friend who works in a sheet steel fabrication company was clueing me in earlier today. He was saying that the mills in eastern europe were overwhelmed now because their price undercutting had forced most of the mills in other countries to close.

hmm. better get on and get our steel..

Heard the same thing about China a couple months ago. I buy a reasonable amount of stainless pipe and I have noticed a large increase in price. It's not only steel price that is going up due to china, they are also forcing shipping costs up for bulk materials (we import and export comodities).

It will be interesting to watch China's development in the next few years (patent and copyright seem to stand for nothing in China). We have opened a big processing plant in china with a big Jap manufacturer and consuption is rocketing over there.


[Edited on 22/4/04 by Digger Barnes]

wthout being too boring i work for corus
(british steel)
the chinese have increased production so
therefore the need for raw material
lack of ships world wide has increased
raw prices hence increase in steel price
no let up in near future

I was on the Queen Bess rebuild, did most of it on my own you know.

If the Tories had kept the steel industry in good nick we would have had no problems. It will be fuel prices next. We rely too much on imported goods and when the countries that export them stop subsidies we have to bear the full cost. Years ago I used to work at a stainless steel firm which exported to Japan, Germany and USA and was Rolls main supplier. British Steel bought it and shut it down within a year. The only reason steel is getting dearer is because the people who control the price are making it dearer. They have found out about public demand for it to build cars and they want their cut. Queen Bess, I was on that build as well but I never saw you, mind you I was on the underwater side. The Chinese theory is just an excuse for the hike. They aren't making any more pushbikes than before and they can make a car out of two coke cans, it's all conspiracy I tell you to stem the tide of home made cars and get you back to spending your money on consumer goods. If you find out you can make your own car what's next. It'll be washing machines, sinks, baths and in the end you will find you never really needed to buy anything but the materials to make everything, undermining the very fabric of society, that's what we are doing and somebody is getting worried.


[Edited on 24/4/04 by Peteff]