Tinnies' Price Rise
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday January 27, 1996
PROSPECTIVE boat-buyers and those close to the industry may have noticed some rises in the price of aluminium boats over the past year. Once regarded as the affordable alternative, aluminium boats - or "tinnies" - are now on par with their more elaborate fibreglass counterparts.
The reason bandied about by boat manufacturers is that in the past year, world commodity prices have undergone tremendous increases as a result of aluminium producers setting about controlling the global price of the material.
World suppliers are said to have cut production by 10 per cent to create a scarcity, while at the same time world demand increased as the global economic recovery picked up pace.
The net result has been that even big marine customers were paying between 20 and 30 per cent more for their aluminium last year. On the shop floor, the retail price of alloy boats increased by at least 5 per cent.
Paul Phelan, managing director of Australia's largest builder of fabricated aluminium dinghies, Quintrex Australia, said: "I believe that Australian marine manufacturers and boating consumers are caught in a trap by suppliers who are exploiting the market having established false price levels."
Although the price of aluminium has already receded by about 20 per cent, and the prediction is for the metal to remain at those levels throughout '96, Phelan is angry that Australian suppliers "haven't been playing ball".
"The only alternative is to go overseas and bring in the material," said Phelan. "We're not seeing the decreases ... I can't see aluminium boat prices coming back."
© 1996 Sydney Morning Herald
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