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Article: Reinforcing savings: switching to hoop reinforcement can save producers money.(casting trends)
- Article from:
- The Concrete Producer
- Article date:
- May 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Hanley-Wood, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Material costs have affected construction costs and they are increasing for everyone. Concrete products prices rose 2.6% in January 2005, the largest monthly increase in more than a year, according to that month's Producer Price Index.
Ours wasn't the only industry that saw increases. Steel prices rose 1.8%; lumber, 1.7%; and asphalt 1.4%. When compared to January 2004, steel prices are 46.5% higher, while concrete products have increased 9.3%. Lumber prices are 7.4% higher and asphalt 6.1% higher than a year ago.
Unfortunately for precast producers, these rising material costs are a double whammy. Not only are there cement and aggregate costs to ...