Purchasing - February 11, 1999
Features
1998: A very bad year for chip makers
Six of the top 10 semiconductor companies suffered double-digit revenue declines in 1998, with dram manufacturers taking the biggest hits. One exception: Siemens, which grew more than 12% last year.
- AUTOMOTIVE/OEM
- BUYING ENERGY
- BUYLINES
- COMING UP
- WHO'S NEWS
- Global economic meltdown boosts barter business
- COMING UP
- COMING UP
- COMING UP
- COMING UP
- COMING UP
- COMING UP
- COMING UP
- Government ups recycled content spec
- About the survey
- BENCHMARKING
- In search of Best-of-Best Practices
- GLOBAL PURCHASING
- More companies source globally
- GRASSROOTS BUSINESS SURVEY
- Buyers harbor some hopes for the months ahead
- MOD ACT
- Mod Act swings into action
- MURRAY'S LAW
- The trouble with Harry
- NEGOTIATION PERSPECTIVE
- Options: As good as price breaks
- Purchasing Focus
- Are low prices tempting buyers to build inventory?
- Buying in the oem
- PART I: AUTOMOTIVE
- For automotive purchasers... The SYSTEM is the THING
- CAREER DEVELOPMENT
- CPI EDITION
- Plastic resin prices
- BUYER'S NEWS
- Supply is loosening, prices are stable or down
- CHEMICAL TRANSACTION PRICES
- Purchasing transaction price survey results
- Chemical Transaction Prices
- Index falls to another low
- Chemicals Quality Survey
- Bayer's quality-control system
- Central systems provide framework for improvement
- CPI Edition
- CAPACITY CHANGES
- Capacity Changes
- Corporate Changes
- CORPORATE CHANGES
- BUYER'S NEWS
- Despite tightening supplies, level prices are likely
- Buyer's News
- Items in short supply
- Steel drums: No dinosaurs
- Ethylene glycol prices look set for 2ยข/lb increase
- Corporate Changes
- Capacity Changes
- Biggest buying problems
- HDPE prices flat through at least year's end
- CEF announces Vanguard winners
- Market slowly recovers
- Computers, Peripherals, & Software
- Purchasing Notes
- Purchasing Notes
- Purchasing Notes
- Purchasing Notes
- BRIEFS
- New Dell options rev up notebook PC performance
- PC SOURCING STRATEGIES
- Reseller relationship streamlines PC buying
- SOFTWARE SOURCING STRATEGIES
- Pitfalls to avoid when purchasing IT globally
- Electronics Purchasing
- Demand rises but prices will fall for lithium cells
- Cable modems market grew 130% in 1998
- DSP market grows as price tags decline
- Electronics Prices
- Contract Manufacturing
- CM purchasers can be useful resources
- Distribution
- Supply chain management gets outsourced
- E-COMMERCE
- HP, Newark announce Web agreement
- ELECTRONIC BUYING CONDITIONS
- Buyers remain in the driver's seat in first quarter
- ELECTRONICS BRIEFS
- Smallest DRAM developed
- Electronic Buying Conditions
- Cap prices drop
- Electronics Briefs
- Toshiba develops slim drives, tiny DRAMs
- Newark carries Newport converters
- Panasonic taps Sager
- INSIDE PURCHASING
- Job Scene
- METALS
- NEWS
- White House rejects steel quotas
- Prices continue down, availability excellent
- News
- Metals Chips
- World copper surplus is now assured
- CR sheet may have hit bottom, but no sharp pickup is likely
- Ryerson Tull buys Washington Specialty Metals
- Ipsco picks Alabama for plate mill
- Duties sought on wire rod imports
- Steel prices start the year by dropping
- 'Death Valley' for global steel prices
- Chips Abroad
- Metals Chips
- No quick pickup seen for cobalt
- Ormet, Alumax settle anti-trust spat
- Chips Abroad
- Gold miners embrace mergers
- Metals Chips
- Chips Abroad
- LME looks to squash Y2K bug
- CHIPS Abroad
- Metals Chips
- Millennium bug could impact NF metals
- SSCI shipments may have set record
- Uncle revises stockpile sales items
- Metals Chips
- Metals Chips
- Chips Abroad
- Metals Chips
- U.S.-Japan steel trade tensions rise
- Chips Abroad
- Metals Chips
- Thyssen sells some plate assets
- Metals Chips
- Chinese copper dip seen
- Chips Abroad
- Bethlehem shutters stainless sheet and strip plants
- Chips Abroad
- AK Steel, Hylsamex form commercial alliance
- Metals
- ON THE INTERNET
- OUTLOOK '99
- Office Products & Business Systems
- BRIEFS
- Hewlett-Packard unveils first networked copiers
- PRINTING & WRITING PAPERS
- Excess supplies will keep prices low for office papers
- PURCHASING NOTES
- Attendees at the Business Technology Association's 1999 Converging Technologies Conference should see an increasing number of printer OEMs
- Purchasing Notes
- Quill Corp. has upgraded its corporate Web site (www.quillcorp.com) to include an Advanced Purchase Order System
- Canon USA and Affiliated Business Solutions, a regional direct sales subsidiary for Canon, has acquired Sintaks, a systems integration supplier
- The National Recycling Coalition has honored Boise Cascade Office Products with its "best of the best" in recycling award
- Office Depot has acquired the remaining 50% of its French operations from its joint-venture partner, Carrefour SA.
- TELEPHONE SERVICES
- Increased competition is good for telephone service buyers
- PRODUCT UPDATE
- HAND TOOLS
- Pricing stays stable in changing industry
- PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
- PURCHASING HOTLINE
- Expect steelmakers to file anti-import cases against more countries
- Look out for coming EPA proposal to cut fuel emissions in new cars, trucks, and minivans
- Shippers should keep an eye on U.S. Postal Service reform bill that could lower rates
- Discount any talk of big increases in insurance rates this year
- Has a shakeout started among providers of "supply chain management" software?
- Expect fast and less costly Internet connections
- Get up to speed on the Internet
- When is a price cut not a price cut? When suppliers' costs fall faster than their prices
- Expect federal government to pay more attention to employers with federal contracts
- Temporary-help agencies will keep raising their fees
- Keep an eye on osha
- Petrochemical prices will continue to fall slightly through most of this year
- Are your suppliers really world-class?
- Electronic buyers can plan on excess semiconductor capacity drying up by mid-year
- Check out the results of Purchasing's
- Expect worldwide power-supply market to double over next five years
- Think your software is Y2K compliant? Don't be too sure
- Keep an eye on dispute between U.S. and Canada over magazine publishing that could affect imports of steel, wood, and textiles
- Need help in keeping up with environmental compliance for chemicals?
- Reward good salespeople!
- TRANSACTION PRICES
- Economy
- As a share of disposable personal income, consumer debt ran at around 7.9% in 1998
- After a respite in late 1998, some "hawkish" Fed officials have started to talk up inflation again
- Fed's latest Beige Book roundup of regional economic conditions shows generally buoyant business conditions
- Industrial production growth fell in 1998 to its lowest rate in five years
- U.S. import price index fell seven-tenths of a percent in December
- Markets
- Mincorp, a new management-led firm, has purchased soda ash and boron chemicals units from IMC Global
- Housing construction will slide 5.6% to 1.52 million units this year
- U.S. business trade on the Internet will explode from $43 billion in 1998 to $1.3 trillion in 2003
- Global memory chip sales skidded 12% to $123 billion last year
- Willamette Industries is exiting the one-side coated paper business
- Airline ticket bookings on the Internet will grow to 8%
- Based on explosive growth in 1998 (to 492,000 units from 214,000 units
- Sales of farm tractors and self-propelled combines rose 7.9%
- Intel has launched two Celeron-brand microprocessors
- LG Semicon has agreed to a takeover by rival Hyundai Group
- Nine automaking companies have organized the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers in Washington
- Cooler weather patterns this year should bring U.S. natural-gas consumption to a record
- The number of cellular phone subscribers worldwide is expected to soar
- GenCorp plans to split into two public companies
- Around 24 million portable telephones were purchased in the U.S. last year
- Justice will block Formica Corp.'s acquisition of International Paper's high-pressure laminate business
- U.S. industry will boost research and development spending by 6.8% this year to $236 billion in 1999
- Prices
- Spot prices for sheet steel slipped in January
- Plentiful supplies and competition from cheap natural gas and Western coal fields will keep Appalachian coal below $30/ton
- Die-cast grade A380 scrap aluminum has risen slightly
- Gaylord Container has proposed a $50/ton price increase
- Expect benchmark Brent crude oil to average $13.50/barrel in 1999
- Analysts with Gold Fields Mineral Services expect gold prices to remain in a range of $270-$310/troy ounce
- Standard 30-lb newsprint remains at $590/metric ton across the country
- With mill inventories declining and significant capacity shutdowns planned for 1999
- United Parcel Service boosted rates this month
- Buyers can expect higher prices for the U308 uranium
- World copper demand will grow 1.9% in 1999
- Sales tags for hot- and cold-rolled mechanical tube have slipped dramatically
- Benchmark-grade northern bleached softwood kraft (nbsk) wood pulp isn't going anywhere soon
- Allegheny Ludlum, Armco, and J&L Specialty Steel are raising selling prices
- Spot prices for polystyrene plunged 24% last year
- Annual average London Metal Exchange prices for aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, and tin will all be lower in 1999
- Georgia-Pacific, the No. 2 U.S. paper company, has announced a price increase in the range of $60/ton
- With imported carbon steel plate (grade A36) from South Korea, Indonesia, and Hungary being quoted as low as $320/ton
- Product Update
- RACKS & SHELVING
- Prices hold steady despite record demand
- Purchasing Software News
- Recycling Resources
- SUPPLY INSIGHTS
- BUYING PLANS/PRICE EXPECTATIONS
- FORECASTS
- Builders will pull back
- Forecasts
- PPI should gain in '99
- Inflation fears resurface
- STRATEGIC COST INSIGHTS
- Actuator costs come down
- TRANSPORTATION
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