year, ocean freight costs have been more reasonable, Pelton said. “The West Coast dock workers strike was just a horrible situation,” Pelton said. “It sent a lot of companies scrambling. During the worst of it, we had containers delayed four to five weeks. Now, the situation on the West Coast seems to have returned to normal. We are not running into unusual delays. If there is a delay, it is a matter of days and not weeks.” Custom examinations are also a source of delays, which, in some cases, can drive up costs. “We haven’t had as many containers examined this year as we did last year,” Pelton said. “Examinations still happen occasionally, but the frequency seems to have come down.” PelRay also supplies broom corn, most of which comes from Mexico, to the corn broom and craft broom industries. “Demand for broom corn is much less in the United States than it used to be,” Pelton said. “Broom corn imports are averaging around 30 to 50 tons a month. The new crop was a disappointment. The Cadereyta growing area got hit with too much rain. As a result, growers Bart Pelton could not get the broom corn in the ground. In the Torreon region, where the bulk of the broom corn is grown, farmers suffered from an infestation of aphids. They lost about 200,000 acres of crops, and not just broom corn, but also some of the sorghum and sweet corn they were growing for cattle feed and other uses. It was a disaster. “The only saving grace for us was there was a good supply of broom corn left over from the previous year. Currently, there is almost no broom corn being processed in Mexico. Pretty much all the processors are closed or are not processing, because there is little broom corn available. Furthermore, what is available is going at a fairly high price. In many cases, when processors do buy raw broom corn, they resell it to Mexican broom factories, rather than keeping it and processing it for U.S. markets. “Normally, they would make more money by processing the broom corn,
but now processors can realize more profit selling it as raw broom corn.” One ongoing challenge PelRay has dealt with is keeping the right amount of inventory on hand for customers. “It is not so bad now with pine because the flow of products is pretty good,” Pelton said. “Broom corn is going to get a little trickier as we go forward. Also, lead times for tampico are still too long. Inventory is always a challenge.” Looking ahead, Pelton predicts the strong U.S. dollar will make imports cheaper, which will be a challenge to domestic manufacturers. “Business is slow in many other countries. Who is still buying? It is often Americans because the strong U.S. dollar fetches more,” Pelton said. “We went for a few years where we were bringing some manufacturing back to this country. The import competition is going to be a little tougher this coming year, or at least until the dollar quits appreciating so much. “The appreciation of the U.S. dollar is a two-edged sword. In many cases it means lower raw material costs for the manufacturers, which is good. Meanwhile, because of competition, some of that savings must be used to reduce selling prices to hang onto market share. It kind of works both ways. For those exporting, it becomes more difficult because U.S. dollar products are more expensive in Mexico, Canada, Europe and elsewhere.” Contact: PelRay International, LLC, 4511 Macro Drive, San Antonio, TX 78218. Phone: 210-757-4640; Toll Free: 800-315-2827. Website: www.pelray.com.
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WHITLEY MONAHAN HANDLE CO.
usiness at the Whitley Monahan Handle Co., of Midland, NC, which is a partnership between The Whitley Handle Company and The Thomas Monahan Company, of Arcola, IL, has been good, said Whitley Monahan Handle Co. Sales Manager Jim Monahan. “We are a little bit ahead of last year, with no price increases — which is good news,” Monahan said. “Business has been good and raw materials are plentiful.”
Royal Paint Roller Royal Paint Roller — a name known in the industry for over 45 years for top quality products, fine service and competitive prices. Manufacturer of paint rollers in ALL SIZES—from Slim Jim to Jumbo 21¼4” I.D. in VARIETY OF FABRICS—including lambskin, kodel, lambswool, synthetic blends & “Lint Free” woven line. Also a complete line of frames, trays, paint brushes & painting accessories for the professional and Do-It-Yourself markets. Specializing in private labeling at competitive prices.
ROYAL PAINT ROLLER 248 Wyandanch Avenue West Babylon, N.Y. 11704 Tel: (631) 643-8012 • Fax: (631) 253-9428
PG 36
BBM MAGAZINE | September/October 2015