[TowerTalk] Rise in steel prices?

[Tower (K8RI)]

<snip>
>
> Not much we can do at the moment, other than restrict the
> outflow of new and scrap steel from the USA, and to try to
> get some new plants online real fast!

Few comments:

Do we even have much in the way of steel mills left?
They went out of business as they could not compete in the world market.
It takes a lot of time and money to build a steel mille, let alone bring it
on line and once on line would they be in a position to compete even if we
could bring a few up by next year?

I seriously doubt we even have the capability to being new steel mills on
line that can compete in the world market unless the prices stay high.  The
same is true for oil.  Only with high crude prices will exploration again
become viable in the US.  The rest of the world (with only a very few
exceptions) is paying on the order of $5.00 a gallon. (Imperial)

As for energy, we best be working towards learning to conserve as back in
the 70s gas crisis.  It's not just foreign oil, but our own natural gas and
electrical companies.

Natural gas was a by-product, or scrap if you will.  The companies did a
great job of marketing it and now it is widely used.  Been following the
utilities?  The price of natural gas is headed for the moon.  Given a couple
years it will cost as much to heat with gas as it does with electicity.
Heat pumps are great, but this far north our heating season is far longer
than the cooling season.  Hence heat pumps are not known for continued
performance up here.

So, following full circle, the price of steel used in towers is just the tip
of the iceburg.  Better buy stock in utilities. At least enough to pay for
heating and cooling your homes.

Roger Halstead (K8RI, EN73 & ARRL Life Member)
N833R, World's Oldest Debonair (S# CD-2)
www.rogerhalstead.com
>
> doc
>
> UpTheTower at aol.com wrote:
> >     Here's some scuttlebutt from the Tower-Pro reflector. I'm sure that
> > this'll affect tower prices at some point.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Steve    K7LXC
> > TOWER TECH
> >
> >
> >>>  From: "Dan Simmonds" <dan at anwireless.com>
> >
> >
> >>> Raw steel prices in the US are climbing just as fast, if not faster,
than
> >
> > fuel prices.
> >
> > This time last year we were paying roughly $22.20 cwt (per hundred
weight)
> > for steel. Today we are paying upwards of $44.00 cwt for the same
material
> > used in our manufacturing.
> >
> > Reason for this is, is that a huge amount of the US generated scrap
steel is
> > now China-bound, which leaves domestic steel mills will less and less
scrap
> > to process back into recycled steel. >>
> > _______________________________________________
>
> -- 
> Thanks! & 73, doc kd4e
> West Central Florida
> Op. Atlas, Drake, Hallicrafters, TenTec ...
> p.s. Linux-incompatible hardware is defective!
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