Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Canadian/American currency exchange
I haven't written about currency issues here. Mostly I write about general stamping issues. This posting is written more from a Canadian stamping perspective.
The drop in value of the US $ is really starting to hurt us Canadian manufacturers.
On the one hand, it's nice to get your raw materials cheaper. For instance, copper isn't hurting us nearly as much as you might think, since it's basically valued in US $ and we're buying it in Canadian.
On the other hand, exports are a big part of our economy. It's hard to say, even for an individual company, what fraction of sales are exported, because not all are direct exports. Some products, especially small metal parts, the area we're in, get combined with other things by another canadian company before being exported to the US.
But sales to the US are hurting. If we keep the US$ price, we are losing our markup. If we ask for the Canadian price, it varies from one shipment to the next, an unfamiliar situatior for most american customers, who reject the idea. Even if they don't, it prices us out of the market when compared to similarly qualified US suppliers.
It's going to be an intesting ride ...
The drop in value of the US $ is really starting to hurt us Canadian manufacturers.
On the one hand, it's nice to get your raw materials cheaper. For instance, copper isn't hurting us nearly as much as you might think, since it's basically valued in US $ and we're buying it in Canadian.
On the other hand, exports are a big part of our economy. It's hard to say, even for an individual company, what fraction of sales are exported, because not all are direct exports. Some products, especially small metal parts, the area we're in, get combined with other things by another canadian company before being exported to the US.
But sales to the US are hurting. If we keep the US$ price, we are losing our markup. If we ask for the Canadian price, it varies from one shipment to the next, an unfamiliar situatior for most american customers, who reject the idea. Even if they don't, it prices us out of the market when compared to similarly qualified US suppliers.
It's going to be an intesting ride ...
Labels: Copper, currency, manufacturing
