QotW: What have you noticed in the rise in prices for materials over the last 20 years?

[Pres]

Hi folks, I was at the Standard Ceramics store in Pittsburgh on Monday. This was a buying trip for materials, as I have not been there since the last NCECA, and have not really purchased much in glaze materials in nearly 20 years. Last order I had stocked up on a lot of items, probably more than I needed. However, this time I was in need of replacing frits, oxides and a few other chemicals. Add to that the common novelty shopping for ribs, cutting wires and other tools and it is easy to drop $500 or more. I was a little shocked, but considering what I had heard out there had braced myself for a surprise. Seems like to me that the frits were nearly double what I had paid when I bought 200 lb of each. Oxides I knew had gone up, but cobalt carbonate seemed higher than I had expected. This got me to thinking about what the community has noticed in the way of price increases over the years. I would especially be interested in the opinions of @Min, @GEP, and @Mark C.. 

QotW: What have you noticed in the rise in prices for materials over the last 20 years? Has the cost of glaze materials progressively increased or is it a steady rise?

 

best,

Pres

[GEP]

I looked at my quickbooks file, going back about 10 years, and found that my clay costs and glaze costs have remained pretty stable throughout. My most expensive glaze material in Tin Oxide and that price hasn't really changed. I do use one frit, but I haven't needed to buy it for years. I'm sure the next time I need it I will be in for a rude surprise.

What has gone up in prices is the cost of replacement elements and thermocouples. It used to cost $430 for a complete set for one kiln. This year is was $490.

[Min]

1 hour ago, GEP said:

I do use one frit, but I haven't needed to buy it for years. I'm sure the next time I need it I will be in for a rude surprise.

Speaking of rude surprises, Ferro Frit 3249 full bag price locally is 432. If I could drive across the border and pick it up in Seattle it's 225. Even with the currency exchange rate that's just ridiculous. 

In general I have found that there has been a steady increase in price over the years. If there is a dip in a chemical price it takes a while for my supplier to reflect that but if there is an increase (like for spodumene because of the lithium price going up for batteries) they are quicker to adjust prices. I have found that if a bigger ceramic supply place like Seattle Pottery Supply carries a somewhat uncommon material and stockpiles it that their prices will reflect the old price for longer than a smaller ceramic supply place does. Example of this was when I went to buy a full bag of grolleg, price went from 60 to 110.

Our gas prices are expensive here, filled up last week at 1.70 CA a litre (about 6.50 a US gallon / 7.70 a Canadian gallon), I think that drives up the cost of our clay especially since it's all brought into the area from either the US or Alberta. 

[Mark C.]

Materials have been going up especially lately. I stock/horde materials in larger quantities so am less affected by any fluxations . I also am a distributor so price hikes show up in email form from supplier every month or three  or six and I can see whats happening. Tin ,cobalt,frits and really many colorants rise (and sometimes fall ) fairly often. For example the world demand for cobalt /spodume in electric cars really drove prices sky high as Min said above .Other factors include larger companies buying up smaller mining companys and closing them down or taking all the supply for a few business like we saw with texas talc recently. This is a huge factor now in ceramics for us. It started about 10 years back and will affect us all. If one wants to avoid  this  some buy in larger quantities and shop around. I found a cobalt and odd colorant supplier(non ceramic supply)  who dealt in 50# lots and I bought colbalt carb and sold most of it so I would have cheaper cobalt myself. I bought  lots of Tin long ago during a drop in price cycle and will not need any more most likely.

Trucking  cost has climbed steadily and adds to the prices. World demand also can make for rises. I have 8,450#s coming in a week (mostly porcelain) and share trucking to lower costs with our local ceramic supply house

Every year almost I buy a few bags of  Alberta slip and silica, whiting and Nepheline Syenite  as I do not want to stock over 3 bags of each along with my clay order. These have all gone up but considering the price its been small and steady .Clay also has slowly risen.

In 1982 I bought 3,000 of kingman feldspar and am down to about 200 -300#s now and that was a very good move it turned out. On a smaller scale one can do the same thing. 

Now for hobbyists who only use tiny amounts you will take the brunt of all price hikes but really most things ceramic are pretty low cost.

 

[Pres]

@Mark C.You point out by your post that much of your success is more about playing the suppliers like one would play the stock market. Buy low, sell high, stock up for rainy days and consolidate/control shipping costs and other costs. More than a potter you are a manager of your entire business. Many of us do not have your business sense, but can certainly learn from your example.

 

best,

Pres

[Mark C.]

Yes its a bit like stock trades-(I also do some of that as well)

buy when price is low in quantity 

Maybe the thing is decide if ceramics is your thing  and if that s a yes than approach materials in a business like manner .

If you are just playing around  with clay than all this makes no sense.

 

Edited August 17, 2021 by Mark C.

[neilestrick]

My attitude about raw materials is that it's good to be aware of rising costs, but the cost per pot is so low that it's fairly easy to make up the difference with a very small price increase across a lot of pots. Plus we're all in the same boat when it comes to prices- nobody has a super secret source of cheap Neph Sye, so the competition is fair in that sense, at least with people in your same country.

On 8/12/2021 at 10:16 AM, GEP said:

What has gone up in prices is the cost of replacement elements and thermocouples. It used to cost $430 for a complete set for one kiln. This year is was $490.

I just looked up Skutt element prices to see how much they've changed (they put out a PDF list every year). 2016 price was $53 per element, currently they are $58 per element. So a $5 increase over 5 years. However the 2014 and 2015 price was $50. We typically see a change of $1-2 each year, however sometimes there is no change for a couple of years, then a bigger jump. This last year has been difficult for kiln companies to set prices because raw material prices are fluctuating so much. They don't want to raise prices if they don't have to, so they're trying to wait until the market settles down in order to get an accurate assessment of their costs, but at some point they'll just have to do it regardless of what's happening.

[GEP]

I’m in a bit of a pickle right now. I am down to my last box of clay, so I ordered it from my local supplier this weekend. The supplier does not have it in stock, because the manufacturer is out of stock of other clays, and behind with their deliveries. I had to order 100# from the manufacturer, just to get me through the next two weeks. The shipment via USPS will cost as much as the clay. I am desperate to keep on track production-wise because of my upcoming shows, so I have no choice. I have to wait up to 5 days to get it, and that will already set me back. Hopefully my local supplier will get their truck delivery in the next two weeks. If not, I’ll buy another 100# shipped from the manufacturer. 

So right now I am experiencing a lot of extra expenses and hassle, caused by supply chain issues, caused by the pandemic. 

[neilestrick]

1 hour ago, GEP said:

I’m in a bit of a pickle right now. I am down to my last box of clay, so I ordered it from my local supplier this weekend. The supplier does not have it in stock, because the manufacturer is out of stock of other clays, and behind with their deliveries. I had to order 100# from the manufacturer, just to get me through the next two weeks. The shipment via USPS will cost as much as the clay. I am desperate to keep on track production-wise because of my upcoming shows, so I have no choice. I have to wait up to 5 days to get it, and that will already set me back. Hopefully my local supplier will get their truck delivery in the next two weeks. If not, I’ll buy another 100# shipped from the manufacturer. 

So right now I am experiencing a lot of extra expenses and hassle, caused by supply chain issues, caused by the pandemic. 

Sorry to hear you're having trouble! It seems no market is immune to the supply chain problems goin on right now. And even if materials are in supply and companies have the labor to do the work, the trucking industry is a mess. i've noticed that kiln deliveries are slower and costing more. Hopefully things will start to get back to normal in the near future.