Fasteners and Plastic Caps
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Fasteners & Plastic Caps
November 13, 2017
Continental Materials, as a leader in the nail business for 60 years, continues to be committed to keeping our customers informed with accurate information on the current issues regarding roofing nails being produced in China.
We are one the largest importers in this product group with our two primary CMI coil nail producing plants, and a number of additional CMI Qualified coil nail producing locations. All plants have again agreed to our strict quality control certification requirements.
The CMI management team recently returned from a 12-day extensive tour of all CMI nail producing facilities. All of our producing locations have been trained and have agreed to produce product only to our “industry leading” quality assurance program standards. Our enhanced program has QC production, testing and tracking procedures for every box (or bucket) to ensure our customers receive the highest quality products that meet current ASTM requirements. CMI is the only supplier of roofing nail with this type of extensive in-depth quality procedures in place to ensure our customers are supplying their customers with the highest quality product in the market today.
Recent EG (galvanizing) plant stoppages, created by the re-enforcement of enhanced China Environmental Controls, have returned to some normalcy but easily could reappear if corrective measures are not taken or are not adequate as additional requirements are implemented. These strict environmental regulations are also causing some limited schedule delays at some production facilities.
Supply remains very tight on coil roofing with most plants fully booked at capacity through the end of January. February will have very little production as all plants will be closed for 20 of the 28 days for the major annual Chinese Spring Festival holiday, which includes the world’s largest annual migration of people. Nearly 500 million people in China will travel back to their home cities in those 3 weeks.
Another important note: severe production issue regarding plastic cap nails.
There are many plastic cap nail plants in China but they all must purchase the blank caps from the two main producers. There is now another big environmental issue tied into air and water waste treatment used in the production of these HD polyethylene caps. It appears that capacity could be reduced by as much 60 – 70% until after the Chinese Spring Festival or March 1, or possibly longer.
That will take lead times from the recent 90 to100 days on plastic caps nails to closer to 6 or 7 months. We are not sure other suppliers are aware of this yet as CMI was at the plants this weekend as this situation was evolving.
It may be a good idea to plan accordingly to have enough caps on order to cover your needs through at least the May/June timeframe at this point.
Hope this information has been helpful in planning your business.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Continental Materials, Inc. (CMI) is a national supplier of roofing system component materials and known for BUR (built-up roofing) asphalt with “No Smell”™ odor eliminating technology and its WeatherSeal™ protective packaging, All-Weather™ asphalt felts and coated organic rolls, CMI All-Weather™ modified bitumen rolls, SureGrip™ construction fasteners and roofing nails, Continental’s eco-friendly high density fiberboard roof insulation board and a premium line of SecureGrip™ synthetic roof underlayment products that are sold and used widely throughout the country. CMI has provided value added products and superior service to the roofing industry since 1958.
For more information on CMI products, call (215) 884-4930, visit www.continentalmaterials.com or contact your local CMI Sales Representative.