To Our Winter Maintenance Friends and Customers,
Many of you by now have probably heard rumblings of crazy carbide supply issues and exponential price increases. The bad news is this is all very true.
Most plow blades from all suppliers utilize Tungsten APT powder in insert form as their primary wear component – whether standard carbide edges or carbide inserts in some form of rubber matrix. 80-85% of the worlds Tungsten APT powder is sourced from China where it is processed. China, perhaps as a result of the trade war, has been holding back supply and raising prices weekly if not daily in some cases this past year.
From what we see, this is a global supply issue – it is not unique to the U.S. Prices since summer are up 300% and climbing. Why all of this? Hard to say for sure but it is certainly geopolitically related and perhaps triggered by the tariffs. We also understand a possible goal is to force the final manufacturing of finished products to China as they wish to reduce shipping raw materials to other counties to produce end products at higher margin.
Additionally, Chinese firms have relocated manufacturing to countries that are not under as much tariff exposure. We are already hearing from these companies about this as they would like further representation to the US market.
As far as anyone understands, carbide prices may level off and back down slightly but they may not return to previous levels.
So what solutions are there? We cannot speak for others but we know, of course, that there will be substitutions. Kueper is no different but unlike most, we are not reliant on just carbide for wear material.
Kueper Germany pioneered the use of abrasion resistant ceramics in plow blades over 60 years ago. Ceramic edges such as our KOMBI and CECO are the primary blades sold to customers across Europe.
Unlike the ultra-flexible GK 5 Rubber Ceramic blade, which has made a name for itself in our North American market, the other styles closer represent the performance of the TUCA SX Carbide in that they have hardox steel as an integrated front and rear plate.
Wear life may not be equal to carbide. Ceramics may chip, crack and flake but this is all considered normal wear and tear. Mostly, in order to use effectively, we must slow the “drop” of the plow.
Kueper North America will be showcasing these proven alternatives among others at the North American Snow Conference in Cleveland this April.
We invite you to come by and discuss and learn about alternatives for plow blades. Please also feel free to email or call with any questions. We are always here to help our industry weather the next storm.
With best regards,
Gardi Willis
Managing Director/Co-Founder
Kueper, NA