Any smart distributor will buy as much as is realistic when the cost is favorable. B&H seems to have done that with MGWT last year, one of the favorite papers (whether they have any profit on that particular item or not, I cannot say). I bought a box of 16X20 earlier this year at reduced pricing. They've since raised it about $30, whereas less popular Cooltone was already raised more the $100 higher, and is now completely out of stock. I wish they'd make a large volume purchase of that too.
A number of nations have just been granted a 90-day reprieve on tariffs, impending negotiations. I hope that includes the UK, giving places like B&H a chance themselves to buy as much Ilford product as they can at at least somewhat favorable pricing. But it's the sheer unpredictable nature of all this, and the person behind it, which makes things so difficult for distributor buying decisions. One can be damned if they do stock up at a certain point, or damned if they don't.
Alan - China is crucial for all lot more than just inflatable swimming pools, lawn chairs, and rubber ducks at Walmart. They have a stranglehold, a near monopoly, on many rare earths and minerals necessary for all kind of things defense, tech, or modern convenience wise. All kinds of industrial operations here will be directly affected. And it certainly doesn't help that a trade war has been begun with our neighbor Canada too, which is the another source for crucial metals. Even invading Greenland or bullying a mineral rights agreement out of Ukraine, or seeking leverage over the Congo, isn't going to change the self-imposed predicament quickly. All that mining infrastructure not only takes time, but can amount to an unwanted enviro catastrophe as well. The US is kinda shooting itself in the foot in that regard.
One of our best domestic sources of platinum and palladium was formerly a giant tungsten mining system on the east side of the Sierra. It also produced a lot of gold. You could see that operation from the trail above it, with 42 switchbacks going right along the side of a big cliff, right past many old gold mining holes in the cliff just like woodpecker holes in a pine tree. Big machinery roads zig zagged up the opposite side of the canyon on Mt Morgan, where all the modern mining was done. The huge ore haulers had driver cabs on both ends, to make negotiating the ridiculously tight curves easier. Right beside me, I have a big 30X40 inch framed Cibachrome print of red monkeyflowers at a spring about halfway up those 42 switchbacks. Nice spot for a needed rest break too! Way up at the top is where the serious ice axe work began.
But once far cheaper tungsten became available from China, all of that was shut down. And the only significant rare earth mining operation in the country in the SoCal desert was outright bought by the Chinese, then itself shut down. I just use a little gold chloride in the darkroom.
which has gone up about 25% since last year.
