A third round of tariffs did take effect and a 10% duty was applied to certain materials from China as expected. A combination of steady demand and increased tariff risk has pushed valve prices higher.
There has been a substantial increase in prices thus far. The Producer Price Index for metal valves hit 172.2, an all-time high in November. That was 8 points higher than last year when the index was 164.2, a 4.8% increase.