Copper

[Ó Flannagáin]

Why is it so damn expensive? Anyone know anywhere online to get a good deal on some tubing/coils?

[DrunkenSatyr]

Blame the Statue of Liberty. At Blowes it is about a buck a foot.

[MrMarbleHead]

Damn that is a good price for a big box store DS. I go to a local hardware and they charge about a buck a foot if you buy a box of 50 foot. about a 1.19 if you buy less, they charge by the foot if under the standard box size.

[DrunkenSatyr]

These are box prices. I don't think the big 2 even sell soft copper by the foot.

[Ize]

Hellz Bellz, I didn't think the housing boom or the Chinese would affect homebrewing... :mrgreen:

http://www.slate.com/id/2130034/


Ize

[cheesefood]

The prices of goods like copper, steel, potash (used for making glass), gypsum and other building materials are on the rise. It started with the cleanup from Hurricane Katrina and then nestled itself into the Chinese economic boom and the U.S. housing crisis. Around 2005, once word of Katrina's impact became fact, builders started buying up everything they could, especially lumber and gypsum. This caused the same effect as we're seeing in the hop market - suddenly high prices due to a shift in the economy.

Meanwhile China began its upswing and started purchasing what it could. You also have the "Tallest Building" competition, and Dubai becoming a luxury country. This meant that other countries with open land were expanding.

In the U.S. interest rates rose to help save the dollar which was crashing from the interest rate drops and liquidity drops. The mortgage crunch started - suddenly no one was willing to pay $500k for a 3 bedroom house in the burbs. Too many people were lured into new houses by the ever increasing value of the real estate market. The house prices are rising due to lack of supplies. People can no longer afford the house because its morgage is about to increase to more than they can afford.

Moral of the story? Make sure you can afford what you buy.