Skyrocketing prices may benefit distributors in the short run, but be careful what you wish for.
Last year's metal price spurt presented certain difficulties, but also brought with it some windfall profits. Inventory bought low could be sold high. Margins could be nudged a little beyond the increases passed along by vendors. Certainly not in all cases; in many transactions, distributors ended up eating all or part of price increases. But overall you don't hear many distributors cussing inflation.