Let’s all get our crystal balls out and determine what kind of winter we will have this season. Really, all we can do is listen to the predictions and then plan on an average year.
This season is still seeing a slight hangover of the last two seasons. The 2013-2014 season saw a complete depletion of salt and ice melt reserves with a significant jump in price. This set up a preseason purchasing frenzy during the 2014-2015 season, which again created early season shortages.
What can we expect this season? The lack of snow / ice events until February did relieve some of that pressure and left many customers with bulk salt inventory going into this current season. Bagged product carryover was not as prevalent as bulk salt.
This season we see that bulk salt pricing has come down some, and supply is available for now. However, total reserves are still not at capacity, and if significant weather occurs, we could see supply problems. After looking at inventory, it is advisable to determine your needs for an average season and lock down your supply.
Bagged product pricing took about an average 3% price increase over last year. Current availability is good, especially for blended ice melt. Bagged salt is available now, but was put on allocation at the very beginning of the season. This means that our supplies have not built up the reserves on bagged salt, and if any significant weather occurs, it will be the first casualty.Although not as critical as bulk salt, it is still a good idea to lock down your average needs.
