On the 5th March 2021, British Steel issued another price increase via letter informing the industry that they would be increasing the cost of structural sections by £30 per tonne for all new orders with immediate effect. This is due to the increase in global demand for the raw materials required to produce their products. The latest increase means that steel prices have risen by around £260 a tonne since last July 2020.
This impact has also hit other products which all of our industry needs to build their projects.
Cold rolled suppliers are also increasing their rates as the supply of galvanised sheet has been dramatically reduced putting huge delays on the supply of cold rolled to projects nationwide. Its been rumored that thousands of tonnes of steel are sat on boats at sea awaiting to be docked.
What will happen next?
This will no doubt have a serious impact on the decisions made by the end users who ultimately will have to either shelve or pay extra for on any new projects which they have been considering. Even a concrete structure will incur increased costs as the cost of re-bar and other products are also increasing rapidly. Is this the time for timber structures to take a front foot in the market?
Hopefully the rates in the market can level out over the coming months. This would once again give the industry a level playing field and would ensure that the risk to businesses are reduced. If you have won projects in the months running up to Christmas 2020, the increases would surely have had an impact to project budgets.