Manufacturers’ E&S Price Increases Continue To Be Moderate, According to AutoQuotes Data

List price increases for foodservice equipment, supplies and related products continue to moderate, according to data compiled by AutoQuotes Inc. for Foodservice Equipment Reports annual President’s Preview E&S Market Forecast. “There just hasn’t been much price inflation,” says AutoQuotes CEO Kent Motes.

For the 12 months ended June 30, 2013, average list prices for 453,081 items from 508 manufacturers in the AQ database were only 2.1% higher than the previous year, down from a 2.2% rise in 2011-12 and a 2.7% increase in 2010-11. The median increase for 2012-13 fell to 2.4% from 3% the previous 12-month period.

The reasons for the moderate increases? “With nearly all materials prices falling steadily for almost two years, it’s been hard to justify increases to big buyers,” said FER Publisher Robin Ashton , during the magazine’s President’s Preview E&S Market Forecast meeting Aug. 7, in Rosemont, Ill.  “In addition, E&S market growth in 2012 slowed from 2011, putting competitive pressure on manufacturers to hold prices.” According to AQ’s Motes, there was no price increase on 40% of the SKUs in the database.

More detail on price trends, including the average and median price changes for 13 product categories and the timing of manufacturer increases is available in the E&S Pricing section of FER‘s annual forecast package along with seven other PowerPoint decks covering the scope of the forecast, for $1,295, by emailing rashton@fermag.com.

“””