Contractors offering bids for some construction work I’ve got on the plate all tell me their quotes are tentative due to the cost of steel. What they are dealing with is a pricing structure from their vendors that changes daily. Steel continues to get more expensive each day. China is buying all the steel they can, and that drives the cost.
This morning’s radio news talked about the cost of concrete, and shortages in Florida particularly. The report also cites higher costs for plywood. Again, China was mentioned. But this time as a supplier of concrete rather than consumer.
I did a quick Google search for China Construction to see if I could find the reason for all this, but nothing jumped right out. I know they are building a huge dam, but would that cause these items to shortfall? I doubt it, and I also doubt the Cinese government has suddenly become altruistic and is building new housing for it’s billion-plus population.
There’s more to the story here, but the reporter either couldn’t or didn’t want to explore it further. Sitting here in my cubicle, I can’t do much more than wonder.