Fabricators faced with mounting supply problems have learned this week that access to reinforcement steels may be further hit by the decision by the country’s biggest steel maker, British Steel, to temporarily close its books to new orders for structural steel.
The news came in a letter from the manufacturer to customers, saying that while ex-stock sales from materials already manufactured will continue as normal, it is not accepting any new orders for production.
While it is understood that other sources are still taking orders, and many major BS customers may have ordered long in advance so will be unaffected in the medium term, the announcement will undoubtedly have some impact on lead times as well as prices in a sector where customers already report recent price hikes.
The move comes as an added blow to the industry as steel was already listed among materials suffering supply problems by observers including HIS Markit (see separate story) along with timber, while PVC resin and imported hardware have been under pressure from post-lockdown demand for some time.
A British Steel spokesman told The Glazine: “Due to extreme high demand impacting on capacity levels, we have temporarily closed the orderbook for structural steel sections only.
“Our orderbooks remain open for all other products. Ex-stock sales of our sections are unaffected by this announcement and we’ll continue to despatch materials already produced as normal.”
