Steel price hikes hit builders

Steel price hikes hit builders
Rebar: Kiwis at the mercy of global demand for recycled steel.
Brent Melville
Builders are bracing for further pain at building supplies stores, with more increases in steel prices expected in the wake of spiralling global commodity costs and a spike in building demand.Major building supply distributors said they will be passing on upcoming price hikes following 15% increases last month, which serves as a double whammy to some builders also hit by bottlenecks in the supply of structural timber. That's after the country’s largest timber producer Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) announced it was cutting supply to it...

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