Dear customer
Pricing mayhem ! And some good news…
Imported timber prices continue to increase. The worldwide demand for material and the ships to transport it continues unabated, pushing prices to record setting levels. In daily conversations with our suppliers and agents to negotiate the best pricing we are amazed and shocked at the monthly increases.
Sitting 1000’s of km from the factories and source puts South Africa at a disadvantage compared to other countries. Combined with inefficiencies in our ports we are not looking good.
Imported hardwoods, ply’s and hardwoods continue to rise in price with double digit percentage price increases. Ply pricing internationally has levelled off, but shipping prices continue to climb.
This has put a huge strain on the customer with large price jumps as new stock arrives.
The local South African pine market
The annual industry price adjustments this year in September and October have been very reasonable (3 to 9%) considering big increases in imported machinery prices, glue prices and electricity. This is the good news 😊.
However wider 228mm raw material from the Southern Cape sawmills has become very expensive. It has had an average 20% increase in price in the last 3 months. This is due to continued demand for an ever-dwindling raw log supply. We see movement away from heavier sections of timber in the future to laminated beams which can now be very competitive.
Our last pricing newsletter hoped for a normalisation in shipping prices and ex-mill prices for the last quarter of 2021. This has not proven to be the case unfortunately.
Please stay safe and healthy.
Yours faithfully
Malcolm Wetmore
Director
Comalytics