The market has gone completely off the rails...
If someone had predicted the demand and prices of steel for 2021 last year, we would have called them crazy. The price index shows increases across all steel products and this has never happened this quickly in the last 10 years. The demand, CO2 and energy surcharges are the biggest contributing factors to these increase, and we do not see this changing in 2022.
The demand for steel products is extremely high and as a result the mills are operating at capacity levels which has delayed the delivery of materials and left gaps in our range. We are in constant communication with the mills and placing high priority on this issue. In some cases, we are able to order material but are not given an end price because of the constant changing cost of the input metal. Suppliers have also broken contractual prices and now all contracts concerning pricing are variable and subject to change at any time.
We all are and need to deal with these challenges together and we thank you and appreciate your understanding.