The COVID pandemic hit the world hard starting in 2020, with impacts persisting through 2021 and likely beyond. At OSH Cut, we observed a single quarter of reduced sales during the 2020 shutdown, followed by a surge in demand that has continued and accelerated through today.
Fueled by injection of cash into the economy, increased consumer spending, supply chain issues, and global labor shortages, the cost of raw materials has risen significantly. That has naturally affected OSH Cut, with steel prices rising 2.5 times higher than they were pre-COVID.
Shown above: in the year between November 2020 and November 2021, OSH Cut's average monthly cost / lb for A36 HR P&O steel grew by 150%, compared to prices pre-COVID.
OSH Cut's aluminum costs have remained largely unaffected, while stainless prices have risen only 25% over the same period.
It's anyone's guess how steel prices will change going forward. At OSH Cut, we expect prices to level off and begin to drop as supply chain bottlenecks are relieved and industries ramp to meet demand. We have high hopes that steel costs will drop soon so that we can pass those savings on to our customers in 2022.
