Steel prices. Ugh Options

[mb911]

Been fighting this all year and it's getting worse. The stainless I use in my products is mostly out of stock until the end of the year. The prices have gotten out of control and it now costs me to sell anything I sell. I have filler metal on order that has been on order for 24 weeks now. I am going to be forced to raise prices but I am fearful that will be the end of my business as that will likely price most folks out of my products. I even considered doing a hybrid muffler with steel internals and I can't even get that. I am fortunate to have some inventory for quiet mufflers but my cheaper mufflers are likely a thing of the past. The quiet mufflers at current inflation rates will be over $1000 to even make 5%.

What is everyone else seeing? I hope to weather the storm but wow crazy times.

[9146GUY]

I spoke to my UK supplier because his delivery times have gone to 3 months instead of the usual 2 weeks. He told me that when they laid out the plant to comply with 6 ft apart per Covid restrictions they ended up furloughing 80% of their work force. Then their sales tripled last year. It appears that people are sitting at home and doing the projects they have putting off. Anyway they hoped the restrictions would be lifted a couple of weeks ago so they could ramp back up. They still have a backlog that may take months to fill.

I'll bet that is the same issue all over the world. The US is probably better off that most of the rest of the world. We are lucky to be living in that bubble.