W.L. West & Sons Ltd.
Timber Talks - October 2009

Firstly, apologies for the late publication.

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VAT returns to 17½ % on 1st Jan 2010

If you have a project in Jan/Feb/Mar that you know about now, you could save  2½ % by ordering Now !!!!!!!!

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This trading month

Well the trade has it’s fits and starts and it’s currently up and down like a fiddler’s elbow.
“All quiet on the Western Front”,  “Moderate to light on the Eastern Front” and “Steady to the North of us” this is how it can be described today, we do not like mixing
metaphors, but they are “almost”
quotations from the Charge of the Light Brigade,  a First World War novel and the Shipping Forecast.

Trade for us was  busy at the start of the month and then tailed off. The machining element of this month however, has been exceptional, but again it’s blipped and gone back to a level .

The trade has seen yet  other change; a company that has been in the trade for many years, we are told, has allegedly gone into
administration.  Stories abound and we are sure all will come out in the fullness of time. So one less hardwood trader. There has been another, an  East London
Merchant, has gone to the wall too.

Remember Cash  is KING, and cash flow is extremely important at this difficult time. On speaking to some of our customers this month, trading up has, ironically, started to happen for some, but the banks are still not lending our money to where it is needed.

Cash is critical.

Please do not be afraid to get
deposits, stage payments, and final payments on agreed Times & Terms.

Cash is critical.

Be Bold. If we all take this approach less will get caught.  
Trade despite this is still possible but extreme care is needed. The insurance companies have cut cover and in a lot of cases reduced credit limits to zero.
The postal service creaks and groans. We all need payment, our external salespeople can collect monies, you can bank into our
A/C, we do offer our details and of course our preferred method of payment is by BACS and with this method your costs are cheaper and no postage is required.  See
enclosed letter for details.

Stock News

“US tackles Ash Bug” was the headline this month from the TTJ international section. The emerald ash borer beetle has spread into up to 13 US states and so far has killed 70 million trees.
We have just started to see a very slight increase in demand for Ash and now we read about this! We do not want to have this in the UK.

Good news just in.

We have bought for the first time in a number of  years some English FSC Oak logs,  two artic loads of logs.
 
This is a triumph, the quality and size is what we need. We are now looking forward to seeing some proper home grown oak through and through planking.  We will be milling soon now but this very mild warm weather has stalled us cutting for the moment.
We are also tendering for a small quantity of some A grade Sycamore butts, which have just been felled.
Our newly kilned Elm is ready for sale and we also have some excellent 100mm thick Ash Through and Through huge boards which have started to sell for the bespoke table top makers.
Some of the boards are really big!

The Pound is still on the floor and all those of us who expected it by now to have strengthened were wrong, The Euro and Dollar are much more dominant, as a result imports are now over 25% more expensive than a year ago.

And finally …fencing news. PRO Fencing a division of W L West & Sons Ltd

Tender-wise a lot is being got ready for 2010. Potential new social
housing starts and therefore fencing supply and fix work, will, we feel, begin in earnest.

It is predicted that there will be an increase of 8% in construction
compared with a -21% during 2009.
We have a very capable and flexible fencing team at PRO Fencing which specialises in large projects, but are equally specialist with top bespoke
domestic work. 
We supply and fix Gates and Decking and we also employ a very able contractor for the automation of gates.  Over 60% of wood and wood products are used in construction, 15% for packaging, 7% for fencing,  furniture 15% and the rest 3% is labelled ‘other’.

On a direct dial do contact 01252 726391

W.L. WEST & SONS LTD
Selham, Petworth, West Sussex GU28 0PJ
United Kingdom

Tel: 01798 861611   
Fax: 01798 861633   
E-mail: sales@wlwest.co.uk