AGC Helps Members Cope with Fast-moving Price Increases

Prices for a wide variety of construction materials and fuel have suddenly heated up. By documenting recent and past price changes, AGC helps members with future work, current projects and previous bids that may have been shelved. On Monday, steel makers Nucor, WMC, and Insteel all increased prices on wire mesh for reinforcing concrete, effective immediately, without prior notice to their distributors.  Insteel’s increase ranges from 8 percent on rolls and 10 to 11 percent on sheets. Other steel price increases have been announced or put into immediate effect in recent weeks. According to steel-price analyst CRU, as reported on Monday in Majestic Steel’s CORE Report, “pricing for hot-rolled steel has now climbed sharply for the last three weeks while cold-rolled and hot-dipped galvanized pricing has increased similarly over the last two weeks….Hot-rolled pricing has now climbed over 11 percent since pricing bottomed the first week of July….Cold-rolled pricing has climbed nearly 9 percent since bottoming the second week of July. Hot-dipped galvanized pricing has now seen positive momentum for six consecutive weeks [and] has climbed over 8 percent.” Also on Monday, the Energy Information Administration reported that the national average retail price of on-highway diesel fuel rose six cents this week to $4.03 per gallon, the highest level in three months and the seventh consecutive weekly increase. Monday’s price topped the year-ago level by 21 cents or nearly 6 percent. On August 14, Thompson Research Group reported in its monthly survey of building products firms: “Steel stud – Volumes improve in July/early August. September 10-percent price increase announced. Wallboard – July/early August volumes still strong. Manufacturers openly discussing a 25-plus percent 2013 price increase and ‘planned distribution’ by October. Ceiling tile – July sales show some improvement. Pricing still flat. Insulation – July insulation sales up modestly. Third price increase goes into effect – viewed as a way to prevent price slippage. Roofing – Roofing inventories appear to have peaked and slowly improving. September 6-to-8 percent price increase announced – need lower inventories and higher volumes to be successful.” Large, sometimes daily, price increases for oriented strand board (OSB), plywood and some types of lumber have been reported in parts of Texas and elsewhere in the South.  There have also been scattered reports from Texas of reduced or delayed deliveries for ready-mix concrete. Each month, as soon as the government posts producer price indexes (PPIs), AGC prepares a set of tables that tracks roughly 50 PPIs for construction materials, building types and subcontractor categories. The information goes to members with a discussion of significant changes in that week’s Data DIGest and to media with a press release the same morning it comes from the government. All employees of AGC members can sign up for the Data DIGest for free as a member benefit at www.agc.org/datadigest. Price trends are also covered in Chief Economist Ken Simonson’s PowerPoint on the construction and materials outlook. Members can help AGC of America provide the most current information about local materials cost and supply trends by emailing Ken Simonson, simonsonk@agc.org, with any reports or “Dear Valued Customer” letters they receive.