2.9.2018
Strong Inflation Across Virtually Every Commodity and Spend Category
US industrial markets have seen positive economic growth driven by:
- Strengthening customer demand
- Lessening government regulations
- Increased trade actions from imports
- Recovering energy industry
As a result of this positive economic activity, there have been downstream economic repercussions. Specifically:
- Steel – 5 year high; Up 20% since October 2017
- Copper – 4 year high; Up 30% since May 2017
- PVC – Forecasted to increase over 20% in next couple of months
- Zinc – 5 year high; Up 41% since June 2017
- Diesel fuel costs up 14% since June 2017
While commodities fluctuate up and down over time, we are currently in an environment where almost every commodity is at multi-year highs and that drives electrical product costs up significantly.
