FIN SURVEY

Distributor inventory turns continued to decline in 2009, with the inventory index dropping 23% to 3.2 from 4.2 at the end of 2008.

Costs were more manageable, however, with 36% of distributors reporting stable costs and more than 46% recording cost declines in 2009. Just over 14% of distributors said their costs increased last year. The distributor cost index dropped to 2.5 from 3.8 the previous year.

In 2010 more than 40% of distributors forecast “moderate” cost increases.

Margins were essentially unchanged, dipping slightly to 37.6%.

Profit gains among distributors were weak, with only 18.4% reporting “moderate” bottom line growth.

Just over 36% of distributors reported price hikes in 2009, with an average rate of 10%, while more than half kept prices unchanged.

More than 61% of distributors expect to raise prices in the next six months an average of 3.76%.

The FIN Survey found fasteners predominately available in 2009, with the percentage of distributors claiming problems with fastener availability dropped. Only 12% of distributors reported sourcing problems in 2009, down from the 35.9% who experienced problems the previous year. ©2010 GlobalFastenerNews.com