Getting a Case of the Shorts: Carbon Fibre and You

The Telegraph has an interesting story this morning about the world market for carbon fibre-you know, that black, sexy looking stuff that's showing up in all sorts of applications?

Well, that sucking sound you hear is every available bolt of the stuff being glommed on by the aerospace industry, to the detriment of smaller but visible recreational uses such as tennis rackets, graphite fishing rods, kayaks and the like. In the sports business, carbon fibre has become the application of choice in high strength, low weight, damage tolerant applications. Those are just the qualities the aerospace manufacturers are looking for in these days of $70 crude oil.

Predictablyl, one of Boeing's legion of flakcatchers was trotted out and said "We're not responsible. Boeing doesn't stockpile carbon fibre." This scenario is almost laughable, as they seem to have an endless supply of Charlie McCarthy clones ready to prattle for any occasion.

Well.

Pardon my ignorance, but to the man in the street, if the amount of the available material is limited, and the supply's drying up, somebody's stockpiling the stuff or tying up the production, or I'm James Brown.