Higher prices on copper

[mikeydidit]

I have ran into a problem that I am sure some of you have to. Our vendors will only honor their copper quotes for one month. They are telling me that the price of copper is going through the roof. Any one else heard of this?? .

"Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something."
(Plato)

 

[skip555]

stopped by graybar the other day and got the sticker shock . 75 per box on cat5 non plenum

it was 50 something last time I bought some and I based my quote on the 50 figure . good thing it was a small job.

counter guy said it was becouse of the "war

 

[jimbopalmer]

http://www.kitcometals.com/charts/copper_historical.html

looks true

I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.

 

[skip555]

might be worth saving the scrap for the recyler now

 

[oldtimerbob]

Yes,
The price for cable has been going up every month since the first of the year as not only has the price of copper but of oil related items (the outter coverings of the cable)also are being affected.
I understand that maybe in the near future the makers are going to selling it by the rate at the time of shipment,so I have been marking up my estimates on the cable by 40 percent to those that are un-commited to order before the 30 day time limit is up that we are presently having to live with at this time.

In Jan I purchased ten boxes each of data and voice cables,PL and PVC,so have been able to keep my cost down so far, but am getting low on iventory.

Even with the prices going up on the cable, it is still the cheapest part of any install.

Good Luck

 

[mikeydidit]

I am hearing that China is buying it all up. There economy is booming right now and apparently they are wiring their world. It makes it tuff on me (being a state agency) our bids are usually done on a one to three year basis.

"Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something."
(Plato)

 

[wires]

Copper is a commodity and pricing has always been based on current market prices. This is more evident in larger wire sizes. At 24 AWG it takes a fairly big swing to make a noticable difference.

There isn't enough copper in the world to support the lifestyle to which we are accustomed:

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000CEA15-3272-13C8-9BFE83414B7FFE87

Copper was fairly stable at 50 cents per pound until the recent instability where it has climbed to around $3 per pound. Since there is about 10 pounds of copper in a 1k box of cat5 then 10 lbs x $2.50 = $25 per box of cable. This is true of all items based on commodity pricing and in part is the true cost of W's adventures. War is hell, unless you are a commodity trader. People used to think it was immoral to profit from people dying but not anymore. Emerging markets have played a part of the cost run up but don't discount that the US is becoming a even bigger debtor nation with no end in sight.

Adjusted for inflation copper hit $3 per pound in 1974:

http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/copper/240798.pdf

Hopefully the current price is a spike and not a trend.