FORT Fencing
Agricultural & Equine Fencing
FORT June Newsletter - 2024
15 June 2024
The weather has been a key part of our reporting this year, but at long last it seems that we can turn from that to other things, as we appear to be into decent building conditions – long may it continue!
At the time of writing the Summer Solstice is just happening and some protesters have decided that Stonehenge could do with an orange paint makeover. Whatever your views on their colour scheme it reminds us that FORT have an excellent Paint Mixing Service – contact our sales team for more information.
General building activity remains strong and our customers are extremely busy across all of our products and services. Whether it’s agricultural and equine fencing, bulk tipper loads of aggregates and soils, or all of the usual stock range, you’re keeping us on our toes! Availability remains good. There are continued rumblings around some products due to previous production cut backs and that could create problems later in the year. Our overview remains the same: Please take care when quoting forward – there’s not much slack in the system and that is only likely to reduce even further.
General Availability & Price Update
Our roundup of key indicators is shown below
Weather & Climate - As you can see from this link, the rainfall has been incredible – Jan 102% of average; February 242%, March 202%, April 132%, May169%. June seems to be far better. Proper Building Weather!
Currency - The £ remains stable against the $ and Swedish Krown (which remains weak). The Euro has weakened a little due to political events. There’s a view that interest rates will not move much, if at all, until August at the very earliest (see inflation below).
Oil Prices - We’re keeping this in, because it has such an impact on costs and as the issues in the Middle East develop it will need to be watched. At the start of the year the price was $78 and is now about $83; that’s about a 7% increase.
Containers - After the surge caused by terrorist action in the Gulf, as expected shipping readjusted and container prices fell in March, but they have risen sharply again; the chart shows rates are about 2.5 times where they were a year ago (which were unviable). This will affect goods from India (sandstone) and the Far East (plywood for example).
Steel - Steel prices are fairly settled. There seems to be a rough balance between supply and demand.
Timber - This is a chart for the US market. The drop in lumber prices seen in May has not recovered. The European market is still not firing up but there are reports of increased demand as the weather improves. It’s potentially quite tight but we’re not seeing signs of any major increases.
Inflation - Inflation has fallen dramatically and is now probably closer to 2.0% (around 3% at the end of May). This is ‘on plan’ (2%).That will ultimately affect base rate reductions and thereby lower mortgages, but the election blocks out any immediate change and the general consens
FORT Summer Spectacular 2024
The suns finally making it’s debut this year with multiple days of forecasted sunshine and with that FORT are hosting a month-long summer spectacular taking place in our showroom. The month-long event is based around a darts competition where our customers will compete for top place!
Compete for the best score to win fantastic prizes from Tickets to a test match at Lords, 4-ball golf days, iPads, Click’n’Climb ladders, £150 gift vouchers, Free Estimation Service, bottles of champagne, crates of beer and much more!
We’ve also planned in trade days where suppliers will host their materials, offer on the day promotions such as free flashing kits or 10% off all orders made on the day and much more. Come and join in the fun, and of course compete for the top 1prizes in the darts competition this July!
Our showroom is open from 8:30am to 4:30pm Monday - Friday, we’ll see you there!
As always, please do not assume stock availability - check with the sales office!
Our reputation relies on word of mouth and testimonials from our valued customers, and as such we'd love for you to share reviews of your experiences with us on either Google, Facebookor TrustPilotif you have the time.
Thank you very much for your ongoing support of FORT!
Best regards,
Matt, Tim & Keith
The Directors