Fastener Prices: Nearly Two-Thirds Leave Prices Unchanged; 60% Expect Increase in 2004

John Wolz

Did you change fastener prices in 2003?
Do you anticipate changing fastener prices in the next six months?

A 57.5% majority of fastener companies reported no change in prices during 2003, while 30.7% of companies got an average price increase of 6.6%. One in 10 companies reported price cuts averaging 5.6%.
About 67% of fastener companies anticipate price increases in the next six months. Only 3.1% of respondents expect to trim prices during the first half of 2004, leaving about 30% of companies that expect prices to remain unchanged.
Nearly two-thirds of both manufacturers and distributors anticipate raising prices in the next six months. About 66.3% of distributors expect an average price increase of 9% during the next six months, compared with 65.9% of fastener makers who forecast price increases of 5.5% during the same period.
However, 5% of manufacturers expect to cut prices in the next six months, while only 2.4% of distributors predict a similar move. The average price decrease for manufacturers will be 3.3%.
The average price increase during the first half of 2004 is forecast to be about 8%, while the projected average price cut would reach about 3.2%.\ �2004 FastenerNews.com