Tighten belts as spectre of inflation will rear its head

I AM beginning to fear the strong possibility of a bout of rising inflation in the months to come.

Whenever basic raw material prices start to steadily rise, inflation is just round the corner.

Structural steel prices, in line with other grades, have steadily increased over six months from about £500 a tonne in July to over £700 per tonne today.

The explanation from suppliers is that as production has been depressed due to demand, no stocks are readily available and the laws of the market place have taken over.

There is also a shortage of scrap, necessary in the production of raw steel, which is reflected in the fact that in the region of £250 per tonne is being offered by merchants anxious to satisfy their customers.

During Covid, construction sites have kept going, so demand in this field has not slackened.

The result will inevitably be that completed works will change hands at considerably above estimated prices.

However, right across the manufacturing spectrum, prices for steel strip, tube and bar continue to stiffen.

Part of the problem is that steel mills and blast furnaces cannot be switched on and off at the drop of a hat.

A lot or preparation has to be undertaken and producers will not authorise such costly expenditure unless they are confident of a continuous rise in demand, not a brief surge in orders.

Budget Day is on March 3, and Chancellor Rishi Sunak will undoubtedly have to bring in a number of tax rises to try to reduce Covid debt mountain. Without a doubt, fuel will be a target – some informed sources suggesting as much as five pence per litre.

Whilst this might be music to the ears of the green lobby, it will inevitably mean price increases in all commodities where transport is involved.

Tax rises are inevitable and so therefore will be inflation, especially when coupled to raw material price increases.

There could be some belttightening to come!

Russell Luckock is chairman of Birmingham pressings firm

AE Harris

DEAR Editor, If you ever doubted whether Britain was right to leave the EU then the vaccine debacle they have created for themselves should convince us all we did the right thing.

Threatening to invoke article 16 of the Brexit withdrawal agreement to create an Irish border to block exports of vaccines from them to Britain was disgraceful.

They have been lecturing us for years that a hard border undermines The Good Friday Agreement but when it suits them they try and do exactly that. What a bunch of hypocrites!

They had to back down, of course, faced with outrage from not only Britain but all political parties in Northern Ireland and fellow EU member state the Republic of Ireland, whom they have treated with contempt.

I am so glad we had the independence and freedom to order our own vaccines. That, for me, is the real crux of Brexit. Whether this country makes good or bad decisions, at least they are our decisions to make.

In a crisis such as this pandemic, individual countries are surely better placed to manage their own vaccine roll-out for their own peoples rather than an EU Commission of official.

They ordered vaccines far too late and dithered for three months whilst Britain acted but then arrogantly demand that their vaccine supplies arrive at the same time as ours.

I just feel sorry for the people of Europe who now have to wait longer for their jabs.

Les Barlow, Erdington, Birmingham