We had to design this thing twice due to fluctuations in metal pricing. The original design was all aluminum. Then came all steel, because aluminum became far more expensive than steel. Then a hybrid and now steel only. There are other factors, such as the relative cost of TIG vs. MIG welding, yet, when your material costs increase nearly four-fold you can't ignore it.

By the time we finished a reduced scope prototype materials pricing and availability was just insane. This has affected other components, like fasteners.

At this time, any quote we provide for product development --be it electronics, mechanical or both-- includes language to say that we cannot hold pricing on anything for more than one week. It's got to be that crazy. If you are not very careful you can easily end-up being very busy while losing money.

Tl;dr...Meh?

It's up but historically it's not that high, it just cratered for most of the teens.