“Although the intent of the proclamation targeted imported steel, the market result was an increase in domestic steel product pricing as well,” said Schjerven. “LII is making every effort to control internal costs in order to mitigate the price increase to our customers. However, because steel represents a significant amount of our purchased raw material, we expect it will be necessary to increase prices by the end of the current quarter.”

According to Lennox, the company filed a request with the Department of Commerce back in May seeking to exclude the steel products most commonly used in its manufacturing from the safeguard tariffs. In addition, a joint letter from the presidents of the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI), the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM), Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association (GAMA), and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) expressing concern over the tariffs was sent to President Bush.

“We will continue to do all we can to mitigate the increased cost of steel; at the same time, each LII company will continue to monitor costs on their product lines and make individual pricing decisions accordingly,” said Schjerven. “Until we know the result of our exclusion application, we will not be in a position to determine specific pricing, but we expected the increase to be, on average, in the 2% to 5% range, depending on steel content of a given product line and may differ from company to company. Each operating company will communicate any increase in price to their respective customers.”

For more information, go to www.lennoxinternational.com (website).

Publication date: 08/19/2002