I just had to purchase a whole heap of plastic for an injection moulding die trial for work- the price has gone up from $10/kg to $28/kg in 4 months
. The plastic is made in Thailand, the supplier is saying it is due to the cost of crude going thru the roof.
does anyone know of what type of increases we will see for the 09 boards?
Apparantly the boys at SHQ were saying that again due to crude the prices of the new JP boards will be nearly 3K!
There goes my plans for buying a new board! 
welcome to the world were everyone is increasing prices based on the oil argument.
what really makes me angry though is that Aussies now seem to have the highest cost of living in the world while being bombarded with with second rate products.
I have just spend the last 6 weeks traveling in Germany and the US. Well guess what, the cost of living based on earning a wage in the respective countries is is about 20 to 30 percent lower than it is here in OZ.
Windsurf gear in the US for example is at least 20% cheaper than it is in OZ. Sorry, but I just don't buy the higher crude = higher board prices argument.
I think what will ultimately happen is that windsurfing will kill itself simply by pricing itself out of the market. Don't see too many kids buying a $3000 board.
US markets prices will for sure be up in windsurfing kit this year by a big percentage and it's not just oil causing this.
At the moment they are running on pricing set when their dollar was much stronger. When new pricing for 09 kit is announced is when you'll see pricing closer to AUS, as not only is their dollar worth less than before but they are also being charged more by Cobra and a lot of other suppliers.
So does that mean if my board weighs 8kg, the cost of the materials will go up from $80 to $225? I always thought we were being ripped off a little.
Just remember that it is definitely not the retailer that stands to profit out of any increased cost to the consumer, and no I don't work in retail, or anywhere in the industry for that matter.
Retail prices and margins are set by the manufacturer and wholesaler, and the retail margins are pretty poor as a % of overall price, It's far more lucrative for shops to sell clothes than windsurfing gear.
Unfortunately the raw materials for any windsurfing product are predominantly derivatives of crude oil. So it looks quite unlikely that production costs will come down.
As for the variation in prices across the globe, let's have a look at this very simple approach:
EXOCET Cross II 07/08:
- US market, RRP US$1450
- France, RRP €1399
- Oz, RRP AUS$1998
VAT (GST equivalent):
- US no VAT
- France 19.6%
- Oz 10.0$
Exchange rate (a year ago, at the time 08 prices were decided and being conservative):
- 1 AUS$ = 0.80 US$
- 1 AUS$ = 0.60 €
Comparative prices in AUS$ excluding VAT:
- US market, AUS$1813
- France, AUS$1950
- Oz, AUS$1816
All in all the Australian market is competitive with the rest of the market even where the market shares are high (Europe). This being said, this is only representative of that particular brand.
Cheers,
Remi
I reckon windsurfing gear is generally cheaper now than what it was ten or twenty years ago. Based on medium incomes the average board probably costs about one or two weeks earnings. The average sail is probably around a week or less of medium income.
Now we have a second hand market where second hand boards and sails over five years old are virtually worthless.
been thinking over this whole board price argument again and come to the conclusion that:
a) retailers always seem to be on the receiving end
they need to deal with consumers complaining about price increases and also need to deal with the consumer when something goes wrong with the products they bought
b) having a single company manufacturing the majority of windsurf boards sold worldwide can't be good for end consumer prices.
While I don't dispute that oil prices have gone up a lot, I am still suspicious that some companies play the oil price card to slip in a few extra % in margins. But then again, companies would never abuse their market power. Why would they?
FYI, the second rate product argument in an earlier post wasn't aimed at windsurf products.
well last year a lot of boards dropped in price, e.g mistral, fanatic, f2 from around $2,500 down to $2,150 mostly freeride boards and anything with carbon stayed around the $2,500 mark. this compared to a sputnik from the early 1990's at around $2,100 when they where new, so as i see it inflation has not realy increased the price of boards as the boards on the market today are built 100 times better than they where in the 90's and not realy that much more expensive. i work in the windsurf industry and find that people who are right into the sport don't mind paying this price for a board, i have noticed that the customers who do winge about the price are the ones driving into the car park in brand new $45,000 dollar cars, why not spend the money on something you love and something that makes life so much more enjoyable and you more healthy.
You could spend all your spare time at the pub buying $6 beers sliding $50 notes into a poker machine and i'm sure this bill at the end of the year would be much much higher, and so would your risk of a heart attack or liver damage, think i would rather risk sun burn..
I checked the new prices for jp twin fin 84ltr at shq $2700 and at neilpryde maui $1899 which is about $1970aus not a bad saving i know what i will be buying when i head over to the US later in the year
3 litres of resin, a sheet of pvc, a block of polystyrene and some plastic boxes would be the petro chemical parts per board, the manufacturing factory in Thailand would buy this in bulk, which I reckon would add up to easily less than $200 per board. So what percent has oil gone up ?
Maybe it's all in the transportation of the goods as that uses oil.
Hmm glossy brochures, web site upkeep, sponsored riders, warranties, marketing personel, packaging, R&D, mistress on the side, accountants, rent, directors lifestyle, more brochures and more sponsored riders...
what a rip.
3G for a board???? no thanks - stick to customs and get a board tailor made..
bj u might have to give up your 1 day a week job
p.s i've got 2 new (ish) boards for sale 1100 and 800....GET IN QUICK,,,unfortunatley due to the malaysion oil price index, prices will be going up very soon,
The Fed's will probably lump a "Carbon Tax" on our equipment too, soon. Bunch of killjoys[}:)] finding new ways of increasing GST by stealth.
Any boards using carbon will have gone up as carbon has been rare to find and expensive.
I have a mate who builds hockey sticks made of carbon and he was having terrible trouble sourcing and purchasing carbon.
He was told it was that Boeing was buying so much of it they caused the shortage and price rise.
I think the A380 has a lot of carbon in the wings and spars.
My 2c which is now 1.8c
