Steel prices rise by £50 per tonne
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Structural steel has risen again in a blow to steel fabricators and contractors the £50 a tonne rise comes at a time of inflation pressures due to rising costs in fuel.
British Steel sent out letters to large firms informing them of the cost rises and blamed high steel-making costs for the £50 a tonne increase on steel sections for all new orders with immediate effect.
As reported by nationaltrdesmen.co.uk in early 2021 and later in 2021 the rise follows a volatile period that saw seven price hikes lifting the price of steel by around £340 a tonne.
The Construction Leadership Council’s Product Availability working group has reported green shoots and signs of easing in supply bottlenecks that has plagued the industry in 2021.
It continued to say that rising energy costs and price inflation continue to cause concern, with the latest forecasts anticipating material price rises in 2022 from 7-10+%, with multiple increases expected for some products.
Continued high level of demand in the UK means that a shortfall in the domestic production of bricks, which is already at full capacity, will continue throughout 2022.
There are three new UK brickmaking plants coming on stream in 2023 and 2024, boosting UK annual capacity by about 150m bricks per year with imports largely from the EU and potentially beyond will be required to meet current demand.
Supply issues previously affecting cement and timber availability have eased but have not been fully resolved this in turn has escalated lead times and price rises in timber.
With the demand for roof tiles still extremely high with lead times averaging 24 weeks and rising to 41 weeks for some types of tile with energy cost also being blamed for volatile cost rises.
This in turn has raised concern moving forward in 2022 the includes global shipping supply lines look set to continue at least until autumn 2022.
