May, 2008

I have written to you, our customers, at least once a month since the beginning of the year, and I never could have imagined the state of the market for welding fittings and flanges that we are experiencing at this time.  We have seen an unprecedented rise in the cost of raw material, from steel pipe to flange forgings, all caused by the huge worldwide demand for steel products.  In the month of May, we saw another huge increase in the price of scrap for bundled steel.  Since our last letter, we received another increase in pipe prices for the manufacture of fittings that we have not passed on yet.  We had one price increase on billet for flanges that we did not pass on, and we are told we will probably see another increase in billet steel for flanges in the near future.  The “American Metal Market” updates confirm these statements.

There are definite shortages going around.  Lead times for flange forgings on some standard items are now up to 12 weeks.  Although there are spot shortages on pipe, we expect that to be rectified before too long.

 Although we posted several letters on our website that changes were coming, I have received complaints from customers stating that they had no written or advance notice on the price increases that have come in the last two months.  For this I apologize, but the way the changes were coming in to us, especially on the dollar amounts of the increases, we had little choice.  I am informing you now that there will be additional price increases in the near future.  We have tried to take care of all of our established long-time customers with their normal requests during these difficult times, and will continue to do so.

 Weldbend has always strived to be the best supplier in the industry.  With the tremendous surge of orders we have had since the first of the year, Weldbend has ordered millions of dollars worth of equipment scheduled for delivery in 2008, and major plant improvements for production of both fittings and flanges.  We intend to expand our fitting and flange lines to products we traditionally have not handled in the past.  We have also received many requests for on-line MTR retrieval.  Although I had some initial personal concerns about security of the system, I have now been assured of a safe and smooth operation.  If you would like to retrieve MTR’s on-line, contact Michael Hammer in our Sales Department to start the process for registering your company for this service.  We do all this because we intend to stay in the business as a family-run company.

 If possible, we will try at some time to resume mailing out price change information to give you some advance notice, but I suggest during these times it would be wise to look at our website often, www.weldbend.com, to see if there is any news regarding pricing in the market.  Worldwide demand is still very strong right now.  Manufacturers of fittings and flanges and other steel products have no control over prices and are waiting to see what is going to happen next with steel pricing and product availability.  Again, this is not just a domestic situation, but worldwide, and it affects everybody.  If we can be of help, or if you have questions, please call.

James J. Coulas, Jr.
President

You can depend on Weldbend!

www.weldbend.com