Rebuilding steel margins as prices soar

Rebuilding steel margins as prices soar
Vulcan Steel CEO Rhys Jones sees a structural shift in steel pricing. (Image: supplied)
Jenny Ruth
The price war that the New Zealand steel industry was just emerging from as the covid-19 pandemic hit now feels like a distant memory amid ever-escalating input costs, but companies are fattening margins too.Steel & Tube advised its customers at the end of February it was putting up prices yet again from April 1 by between 4% and 10%, depending on the product, and that local freight rates would rise by 8% to 10%.And that was before the price of nickel, a key input into stainless steel, more than doubled in a single day on March 8, causing t...

More Infrastructure

War on Nature v Going for Growth
Opinion

Pattrick Smellie: War on Nature v Going for Growth

Some big environmental eggs were broken this week to 'go for growth'.

‘Remarkable growth’: Fulton Hogan posts higher profit
Economy

‘Remarkable growth’: Fulton Hogan posts higher profit

Fulton Hogan paid a total dividend of $180.4m for 2025.

Duncan Bridgeman 05 Nov 2025
EPA head quits with fast-track changes
Policy

EPA head quits with fast-track changes

The latest fast-track reforms go far beyond supermarket resource consenting.

Could your KiwiSaver soon own your local water system?
Finance

Could your KiwiSaver soon own your local water system?

Founder Sam Stubbs says 90% of Kiwis back the idea of owning local utilities.

Garth Bray 03 Nov 2025