Bar Solder Pricing List

Bar Solder Pricing Program

By Tim Noble

Metals prices can fluctuate significantly on a daily basis and this presents major challenges to provide these materials at the most affordable prices.  10 years ago it was commonplace within the industry to have blanket orders, meaning you place an order for a large amount of material and take incremental releases over a period of time, in the meantime the entire order was based off of the price at the beginning of the period.  This was feasbile, when the market was more stable and there was much less fluctuation of the prices of the metals required for these products.  In today's markets we can see both increases and decreases in prices of up to 20-30% in a short period of time.  It has become so volatile that we get updated pricing on a daily basis on several materials.

This has made it virtually impossible for us to honor blanket orders in today's market.  This isn't just a protection to us but a protection to you as well.  If you lock in to a price and tomorrow the value plummits, under a blanket order you would be committed to that higher price of the remaining balance of your order, just the reverse of if prices increase we as the supplier would be responsible for providing product at the original price.  So this practice serves as a protection to both ourselves and to you, our end customer.

Now considering how difficult it is to monitor the market, we are trying to make it just a bit easier to you and that is via pricing updates.  By enrolling in our pricing update program, you will be e-mailed with weekly updates on our bar solder products.  This will help you to automatically observe where metals prices are and where they may be going.  Hopefully this will help you to buy when prices are low, rather than high.

To enroll in the program, click here.  Please be sure to enter a subject line of "Bar Solder Pricing Program - ADD ME"

You may ask why is the price so volatile and it is a very legitmate question.  When I first began in this industry I remember bar solder prices of $1.95 per lb as long ago as 2000-2001, whereas in 2012 we are experiencing ranges from $9.00-$13.00 per lb and that is quite a significant increase.

Much of this is supply and demand and another factor is the value of the US dollar.  As the value of the dollar decreases, the amount of curreny required to purchase the materials increases accordingly.  Tie this together with the supply and demand issues and you account for the increase.  I have written a document highlighting some of the influences on the supply and demand issues in my article titled "The Impact of Tin (Sn) on the Electronics Market".  You can also see a chart of the increase over the last three years by clicking here.

Once agan, we strive to provide the best pricing available given the market conditions, but without actively monitoring the market it is nearly impossible to stay in front of the challenges.  Hence programs like the pricing program give us more tools in order to accomplish this task.  Hopefully you find it of value and that it will help you to buy the material when it is at it's lowest price.

If there are ever any questions on any of this material we are only a phone call away at:  (847) 639-2440 or via e-mail at:  sales@ntech-inc.com