FORT Fencing
Agricultural & Equine Fencing
FORT November Newsletter
16 November 2022
In previous newsletters we've talked about Spring Note, the racehorse that FORT has a share in (the left hoof is ours, we understand), and we were delighted to see her run out as a 7/1 winner in her first ever race at Warwick recently. Keep an eye on our social media for updates on her progress.
November has also seen the start of some truly terrible moustaches being grown by the boys and girls at FORT. Again, we'll be sharing updates later in the month, but at the moment it resembles Halloween in the sales office!
Last weeks' Remembrance Day silence was well observed by staff and customers at FORT, and being on the site of the World War II air base it was a reminder of all that those who served did (and still do) for us.
Finally in the FORT update - advance notice that we'll be closing for Christmas as usual, with our last trading day of 2022 being Thursday 22nd December. We'll then re-open again on Tuesday 3rd January 2023.
General Availability & Price Update
The clocks changed and Autumn is now running rapidly towards Winter. Meanwhile, the chaos of government changes seems to have quietened down and the markets have settled. Clearly none of us knows what’s heading towards us but the signals are there: it’s going to be a hard Winter.
General reports from our Customers continue to indicate that there’s plenty of work around; we need to factor in the usual seasonal affect and look forward to 2023 to try and see how things will shape up.
Realistically, house prices appear to be coming off from a very high point; mortgage rates are increasing (but from an extremely low point) and this is bound to affect demand.
Inflationary pressures seem to be easing. Some building materials have started to fall in price. As energy price rises become absorbed or even begin to fall, they could well help to lower inflation quite significantly.
Our advice remains the same:
- We urge you to NOT give firm price commitments beyond a short timeframe – some availability and inflationary pressures are still present.
- FORT continue to hold excellent stock levels in most areas. Contact our sales team for further advice.
FORT Has Excellent Stock Levels – there are still some availability issues around blocks, tiles, etc, but we’re managing to look after all Customer demands.
As usual, here’s our summary on key data:
£ Exchange: At the time of writing this, the £ is almost at its highest point for over a month, but it’s still very bumpy. That’s well over 15% below where it was a year ago. This has an impact on shipping costs and fuel.
Containers: as you can see, these have fallen back dramatically and seem to be continuing to fall. This is helping to improve rates on heavy items, such as stone paving. We do need to remember though that these are $ rates.
Steel: Back in October the price had been rising a little, but has now fallen back again. However, we do need to remember that this is priced in $ and our exchange rate makes a difference.
Timber: Although this tracks the US market it does indicate the direction of travel. US demand for housing has cooled dramatically and timber prices are way down on the early part of this year. It probably shows that desire for housing is huge and will return, as soon as confidence comes back.
Inflation: Possibly the most terrifying statistic of them all! To see inflation above 12% is very scary, especially as our sector is likely to start to see demand falling and pricing under pressure. But ….that line does finally look to be settling off and if energy prices begin to fall we should see inflation coming down quite quickly.