Cable prices have increased over the last few months, and are continuing on the upward trend. We’re all feeling the pinch, and I’ve been asked on a number of occasions – by both staff and customers – why this is the case. Below is my explanation.
Basically, the price of all four major inputs has increased: copper, aluminium, PVC, and freight. In some cases, these inputs have increased quite significantly. Even a recent shortage of timber in Australia has resulted in an increase in locally manufactured timber drums, which has also had an impact on pricing.
Here’s an in-depth look at each of the major inputs:
Copper
Below is graph of the copper rate movement in the last 12 months, and a second graph showing the last five years. These show we are at both a year high and five year high for the price of copper.
CU in last 12 months
CU in last 5 years
Aluminium
Below is a graph of the aluminium rate movement in the last 12 months, and a second graph showing the last five years. These show we are at both a year high and very close to a five year high for the price of aluminium.
AL in last 12 months
AL in last 5 years
PVC
The price of PVC has significantly increased. We have also seen this in the conduit side of our industry. The following graph shows the Polyvinyl Chloride Futures market pricing for the last five years. You can clearly see here we are at a five year high for PVC pricing.
Freight
These raw inputs, as well as large amounts of cable are all imported from overseas. This means that the cost of container freight has a huge impact. Again, the below chart shows the very large increases which have incurred in the past 12 months, based on a composite of container freight rates on the 8 major routes to/from the US, Europe and Asia.
I trust this helps to explain the situation to all staff and our customers who are asking for an explanation on why cable prices have increased.
If you have further questions regarding this, please reach out to me at info@ars.com.au.
Regards,
Earl Palfrey, Group General Manager
All Round Supplies
