Are AL prices going up for you?

[PetrosA]

I was in the supply house today and they have a sign up warning contractors that AL wire and cable prices have risen 25-35% recently and that we need to confirm new prices for bids. Supposedly manufacturers are also holding back on deliveries until new prices are in effect as well. Are you seeing this in other parts of the country, or is this just a weasly way to jack up prices here?

Not that this surprised me though. I've noticed about a 20% price increase in our local supermarkets, a few other contractors have told me that drywall and other prices are up by close to 30% since Jan. 1, fuel prices are climbing back up for the last week or so and our local POCO is phasing out the off-peak meter discount (our bill was almost $100 higher from Dec. to Jan.). What gets me is this - for the 15 years I lived in Poland, with it's really dynamic economy, I got used to prices climbing constantly and every invoice got bigger and bigger, even if it was by just a few cents. While it was never pleasant, it certainly wasn't the kind of shock that a 20-30% jump is. Heck, even the Powerball ticket went from $1 to $2 on Wednesday

 

[Joethemechanic]

I don't think it's the aluminim going up. It's not anything going up



If you were in Poland, you must have known of Weimar. One of the biggest problems with an unstable currency is, How can you bid a job if all the prices keep changing. It's not too much problem if you are installing a new receptacle or breaker panel for Mrs Jones.

But what when you are bidding a new school or a large manufacturing plant? How can you bid if your numbers change from day to day?

BTW, suppliers will refuse to lock in to prices too. How can they be expected to hold prices when they don't know what their costs will be?

 

[MarkyMarkNC]

Not sure why aluminum would be going up that much. Aluminum commodity prices have gone up about 10% in the last month or so, but is still below it's six month and one year moving average.

 

[mike7330]

NO WAY????? http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts

 

[cadpoint]

I don't have an answer, I went to the junk yard with aluminum cans it was .32/lb it?s now .50/lb. (cans were crushed)

198 lb of steel = ~ $17.

28 lb of aluminum = ~ $14

Crazy

 

[ptonsparky]

We have been warned that AL prices are jumping and there will be shortages.

 

[cadpoint]

I frankly don't know why, I guess they saw them do it with oil so they said what the hey...

"The most abundant element in the earth's crust is oxygen, making up 46.6% of the earth's mass. Silicon is the second most abundant element (27.7%), followed by aluminum (8.1%), iron (5.0%), calcium (3.6%), sodium (2.8%), potassium (2.6%). and magnesium (2.1%)."

chemistry - about

 

[Joethemechanic]

I frankly don't know why, I guess they saw them do it with oil so they said what the hey...

"The most abundant element in the earth's crust is oxygen, making up 46.6% of the earth's mass. Silicon is the second most abundant element (27.7%), followed by aluminum (8.1%), iron (5.0%), calcium (3.6%), sodium (2.8%), potassium (2.6%). and magnesium (2.1%)."

chemistry - about

Refining aluminum is a very energy intensive process. It requires huge amounts of electrical power.

Although the newest smelters can be closer to 12,500 kWh per ton let’s say most smelters are consuming electricity at 14,500-15,000 kWh/ton of ingot produced.