FORT Fencing
Agricultural & Equine Fencing
FORT June Newsletter - 2023
15 June 2023
Possibly the biggest change since our May update has been that weather we mentioned, it’s turned from constant rain to complete sunshine and it’s certainly making a difference for groundworkers and landscapers.
Moving from weather to trade, as you may know, FORT has quite strong links into the European timber trade association and the general forecasts are not good; in fact it’s very gloomy, with predictions of a severe downturn through into 2024, but that’s different from here in our area and also because of the sector that nearly all of our customers operate in. Speculative new build seems to be where the slowdown is most acute, because of moving costs, the lack of incentives and higher mortgage rates. Meanwhile, repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) seems to still be strong and thankfully our customers are mostly in that market.
As reported last month, product availability is now a thing of the past. When combined with FORT’s decision to ‘go big’ on stock, we’re able to ensure excellent availability across pretty much the entire range of stock items. Inflation means that forward pricing is unpredictable and we urge you all to be cautious on estimating.
You’ve also probably heard that we’ve teamed up with Kington Aggregates and that means we’re able to provide you with an excellent bulk tipper service on all the popular items – from flint to topsoil, bark to gravel, FORT can deliver! We’ll be announcing some more great news on some exciting new product ranges in July ……watch this space!
General Availability & Price Update
Our roundup of key indicators is shown below:
Currency - The £ has continued to improve since May is currently back where it was over a year ago. Against the Euro, things have also improved and is now sitting somewhere slightly above the 5 year average.
Containers - Having dropped from incredibly high rates, the price appears to have levelled off, but still on a small downward trend, thereby easing the cost of imports, especially heavier items (sandstone for example).
Steel Bar - A brief spike in price caused by the terrible earthquakes in and around Turkey has fallen back and overall prices have levelled off at quite a low point.
Timber - While this is a US index, it shows the trend. Timber has returned to somewhere close to 2020 (pre-pandemic)levels. Operational costs and the shortage of logs (due to sanctions on Russian and Belarus) are starting to kick in and we anticipate small increases as the year progresses. There’s an underlying need for rates to rise, but at the moment lack of demand is holding that back.
Inflation - Inflation remains stubbornly high, but finally we’re seeing what looks like a continued drop. This has taken a lot longer than anticipated, but energy costs have fallen and increased interest rates have taken money out of the system, so it looks as if the UK will see far lower levels of inflation during 2023.
Crafting outdoor memories, one deck at a time
From traditional timber to various flavours of composite decking, the choice is yours! Here at FORT, we stock and supply a wide range of both timber & composite decking materials along with all necessary fixings and accessories.
Our Dual Purpose Timber decking is preservative treated to a UC3 standard and available in lengths of 3.6 & 4.8m. A natural product which is easy to work with, cost-effective and a traditional design.
We’re proud to be stockists of Trex, a composite decking with a variety of flavours and ranges. Offering a stain, fade, mould and scratch-resistant material which is made from both recycled plastic and reclaimed wood. Come visit our showroom to find out more!