A Demanding Supply
Even with the continually evolving nature of international trade agreements, ours remains a very connected world. At The Yard Ramp Guy, we keep an eye on this through a prism of steel: which regions are producing more and producing less, how that affects price.
Steel, of course, accounts for the major component of our yard ramp inventory. In our view, that steel floor plate with diamond tread (otherwise known as “diamond plate”) is one of the foundations of a safe and secure ramp. The diamond plate is where your forklift enters and exits the ramp; its integrity is essential. (As our driver’s ed instructor used to say, “The best ride is an uneventful ride.)
Combine that with the serrated grating which accounts for the rest of the ramp’s length, and expert welding, and we’ve generally sketched out a description of All-Steel Frame & Deck construction you’ll find on the majority of our yard ramp listings.
As we’ve described in this space, steel pricing depends on a number of factors, most of which aligns with the rules of supply and demand. Namely:
- When Supply is up, Demand and Price go down.
- When Supply is down, Demand and Price go up.
We won’t predict where the price of steel is headed, though there are some key indicators that give us hints.
China—by far the world’s largest producer and consumer of steel—is experiencing a slowdown in production and use. This would suggest the price of steel is going to rise.
However, other regional players in crude steel are showing production growth. Asia and Oceania (which excludes China) has grown impressively in recent years, followed by the European Union and North America.
So, the experts suggest regional steel production that competes with China won’t completely compensate for China’s slowdown, though it will help bridge the gap.
What does this mean for the United States yard ramp industry? Again, we won’t predict. What we do know is that our longstanding and excellent business relationships with our main manufacturers of yard ramps allow us to remain competitive—and often ahead of the competition—when it comes to fair pricing for our customers.
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Quotable
So, McCoy Fields — Wait for it:
