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Canada: $6 a Gallon? Washer fluid price set to soar !
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by Barry Artiste | December 29, 2007 at 07:13 am
2344 views | 10 Recommendations | 2 comments
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Barry Artiste, Now Public Contributor
And we complain about the price of a gallon of gas?
Vancouver, British Columbia is Canada's leading supplier of Winterized Windsheild Washer fluid, a key ingredient "Methanol" is outsourced to South America,where shortages about driving the price of Methanol to stratospheric levels resulting in prices rivalling gasoline.
Methanol is a requirement for Automobile where Winter Driving requires everything from Winterized Windshield Washer Fluid to Gas Line Antifreeze, as well as Gasoline additives.
Rest assured Canadians living close to the US border in the Eastern Provinces will be making regular runs to the border for their 0.99 cent a gallon windshield wiper fluid. Midwest and Eastern Canada is experiencing some of the worst winter and slush conditions and regardless of anything else Winterized Windshield Washer fluid is a must for any vehicle during the winter where salt, slush, road grime and cold weather render windshields with a thick hazy film making driving virtually impossible for anyone in which a sudden loss of windshield fluid in slush conditions could prove fatal at highway speeds.
My Final Thought
Perhaps another "Con" against outsourcing for products Canadians need for winter survival. Methanol is readily available as a byproduct of Natural gas of which we have an abundant limitless quantity in Alberta and Saskatchewan. There is no reasons for Canadians to be held hostage to shortages when Canada and our technology is in place to provide it, and cheaply. In my Opinion, "Greed and Stupidity" prevail in this Vancouver companies short sightedness of having a backup plan when a supply could have been produced or purchsed cheaply right next door in Alberta, or even in the United States who manufacture Methanol.
Want to pay up to $6 for a jug of windshield washer fluid?Then stock up, warns a local maker of the blue stuff who says prices for the Canadian winter staple will spike in the new year because of a global methanol shortage.
"I wouldn't be surprised if you were looking at $5 or $6 pretty soon," said Raymond Paquette of Mr. Refill, an east-end company that makes and sells windshield washer fluid to customers including, the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau and area gas stations.
"Everyone is going to pay through the nose eventually. If you can get yourself a case, and that will last you the winter, go ahead and jump on it, even if it's $3 a jug.
"It will get worse."
A squabble in the sunny southern hemisphere could ice Canadian winter.
PRODUCTION SLOWED
The Vancouver-based company that makes much of the world's methanol -- the main ingredient in windshield washer fluid -- has had to curtail production in Chile.
The company is having trouble getting natural gas, another key ingredient, from neighbouring Argentina because the country has imposed a hefty export tax.
Methanex is now posting a price of $832 US per metric tonne, up from a low of $309 earlier this year.
In October, the company reported a severe shortage of methanol because of closed plants throughout the industry -- including its own in Chile -- combined with strong demand. It's since restored some natural gas supply.
Consumers haven't noticed the impact yet.
But retailers will soon be running out of inventory and buying -- and selling -- the product at new, sky-high prices, Paquette said.
His wholesale price is up 112% since October. He's now selling his product at 98cents a litre -- up from 40cents in September.
When it comes to a winter weather essential, Canadians are at the mercy of the global market, Paquette said.
"It always hits the public or the small companies in the face," he said.
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Barry Artiste
Vancouver, Canada
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 09:17 on December 29th, 2007
Canada really, really needs to start doing more for itself. Our current import/export relationships are clearly not working out, as evidenced by prices paid by consumers for... for everything, really.
at 18:24 on December 7th, 2008
What a bunch of crap... this BS is produced and promoted by the same the Churnners and Burners that have driven the price of oil through the roof.... there is no shortage of oil... there is no shortage of methanol... it is ALL unqualified BS THEY broadcast... the media picks up and runs with (simply to justify their own existence) and all of a sudden the price is out of site! READ MY LIPS FOLK'S... It is all BULLSHIT!... STOP PLAYING INTO IT!