Purchasing - June 3, 1999
Features
CORPORATE CHANGES
FMC and Solutia have agreed to form 50/50 joint venture--combining the North American and Brazilian phosphorus chemical operations of bot
- AUTOMOTIVE/OEM
- Automotive/OEM
- BUYING ENERGY
- BUYLINES
- At helm of NAPM, Nelson will 'level up' education
- Who's news
- Who's news
- Who's news
- PE price trends
- BENCHMARKING
- Supply management as profit center
- MARKET UPDATE
- Tighter polyethylene market prompts producer price hikes
- NEGOTIATION PERSPECTIVE
- Art of breaking a bargaining deadlock
- PURCHASING SURVEY
- Single sourcing--some love it, most fear it
- WASHINGTON PERSPECTIVE
- Gov't economists seek ways to measure the D-economy
- Buying in the oem
- PART IV--AEROSPACE
- Aerospace purchasing gets overhauled
- CAREER DEVELOPMENT
- CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAMS--PART I
- The case for TEAMS
- CHEMFORECAST
- CAUSTIC SODA
- Lower exports, oversupply keep prices low
- CPI EDITION
- BUYER'S NEWS
- Materials tighten slightly, price increases grow
- CHEMICAL TRANSACTION PRICES
- Purchasing transaction price survey results
- CITRIC ACID
- Availability keeps prices flat
- Chemical Transaction Prices
- Plastic resin prices
- Price index slips slightly
- LEADTIMES
- FOOD & BEVERAGE
- Changing purchasing from the top down
- CPI Edition
- BUYER'S NEWS
- Unplanned outages cause price hikes
- Buyer's News
- PRICE INCREASES
- PRICE INCREASES
- Chemicals on the Internet
- Specialized new products will drive food additive growth
- CORPORATE CHANGES
- Fiber drums: Innovators will survive
- CAPACITY CHANGES
- CORPORATE CHANGES
- CORPORATE CHANGES
- CAPACITY CHANGES
- CORPORATE CHANGES
- CAPACITY CHANGES
- CAPACITY CHANGES
- INSIDE PURCHASING
- MEASURING PERFORMANCE
- METALS
- Specialty steel imports drop, but so does overall demand
- NEWS
- Distributors are gloomy on '99 sheet steel prices
- News
- METALS CHIPS
- Canada sets cold-rolled duties
- METALS CHIPS
- Metals suppliers available online
- METALS CHIPS
- OECD steel demand will slip again in '99
- Buyer optimism rises, copper and brass tags fly up
- METALS CHIPS
- White House opposes quotas
- Worthington Steel reorganizes
- Korean steelmaker looks to WTO
- METALS CHIPS
- METALS CHIPS
- METALS CHIPS
- METALS CHIPS
- USS/Kobe and Republic to merge bar units
- Weirton revamps commercial unit
- Steel interests want changes in Chinese trade
- U.S.: Japan dumped sheet
- METALS CHIPS
- METALS CHIPS
- METALS CHIPS
- IISI downgrades world steel supply forecast
- METALS CHIPS
- METALS CHIPS
- Aluminum Outlook 2000 rescheduled for Sept. 2
- MRO Report
- Metals
- STEEL PLATE AND BEAMS
- Supply glut keeps prices low
- Steel Plate and Beams
- Prices for heavy steel are nearing new lows
- Supply for heavy steel has reached a new level
- Steel plate and beams
- Will duties cut stainless import share?
- PRODUCT UPDATE
- LUBRICANTS & CUTTING FLUIDS
- High demand for specialty products
- PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
- PURCHASING HOTLINE
- Most importers and exporters shouldn't count on major savings from Ocean Shipping Reform Act until late this year or even next year.
- Shippers should make sure that Conrail's name has been replaced on bills of lading and shipping instructions.
- Importers could have more trouble challenging Customs decisions
- Watch for new rules requiring non-polluting paint for industrial applications
- Keep an eye on status of reformulated gasoline
- Plan on capital spending cooling off a bit this year
- Need timely commodity pricing data?
- Expect commodity pricing to begin recovery this year.
- Is your MRO buying strategic--or do you just wing it?
- Be sure to enter Purchasing's Welcome Booklet contest.
- Keep an eye on plan by Clinton administration to make importers pay for half of overhaul of U.S. Customs' computer system
- Don't forget that rates for mailing overseas just increased
- Don't expect Conrail's breakup to create chaos for shippers.
- Plan on 2.5% inflation this year, up from 1.6% last year.
- Plan on paying more to ship goods from Europe.
- Are you negotiating the best travel deal you can?
- Keep a close eye on legislation that would give states flexibility to increase allowable truck weights.
- Warning: It's not just your marketplace, your strategic plan, your track record, or your technology that determines your ability to grow--it's your people.
- Expect to pay more for polyethylene (PE) resins.
- Economy
- Latest Beige Book from the Fed finds a generally strong economy
- Visit Purchasing Online (www.purchasing.com) to enter Purchasing's 1999 Crystal Ball
- The employment cost index rose a mere 0.4% in first-quarter 1999
- The nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at a rapid 4.5% annual pace in first-quarter 1999
- Potential for a stock market correction remains the number-one threat to consumer spending growth
- napm's index tracking commodity price activity rose to neutral (49.9) in April 1999
- U.S. nonfarm business productivity grew at a stunning 4% annual rate in first-quarter 1999
- Markets
- Boeing's commercial jet deliveries, expected to fall from 620 in 1999 to 480 in 2000, could be "flat to slightly higher"
- Wireless phone and semiconductor maker Motorola has agreed to sell its semiconductor products business
- South Korea's Hyundai Group will spend $2.15 billion to acquire LG Semicon
- Growth in demand for freight cars continues to rise
- U.S. housing construction shattered forecasts last year; now it looks like the expected 1999 slowdown may not happen.
- North American demand for mechanical and hydraulic components--used for everything from trains to airplanes--started to pick up
- The U.S. and United Kingdom this month will resume talks on a new aviation treaty.
- The International Trade Commission has rejected tariffs
- Demand for anti-friction and precision bearings remains strong among North American industrial OEMs
- North America remains a hot sales market for cellular telephones
- Solutia will buy CPFilms, a maker of specialty film, from Akzo Nobel N.V. for $200 million.
- Prices
- Demand for liquid hydrogen is near historical highs
- The prolonged slump in commodities prices will wane in 1999
- Newsprint prices have fallen $200/ton from their 1995-1996 peak of $730
- Hotel rooms will cost more than last summer
- Domestic producers of expanded polystyrene (EPS) are attempting to boost prices 8¢/lb this month.
- U.S. demand for copper- and aluminum-intensive air-conditioning equipment is expected to decline between 5%-10% this year
- A flood of low-priced imports has forced bottle-grade polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin down to 45¢/lb.
- After languishing at the same price level for more than a year
- Seeking to gain market share in Type-409 stainless steel, Nucor has slashed product prices
- Copper cathode may rebound slightly to 78¢/lb next year
- Led by GS Industries of Charlotte, N.C., wire rod makers are looking for another $20/ton price hike in July
- Oil prices have risen more than $6/barrel
- At least a dozen major North American polyethylene (PE) makers have joined Dow Chemical in seeking a 5¢/lb June price increase,
- Published prices for wood pallets in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions slipped 2% in April
- Structural lumber prices have risen 25%-30% since last spring, but they probably peaked in April.
- Average 1999 airfares on major North American airlines will be up 10% by year-end
- BP Amoco concedes that downward price pressure (and lower margins and volumes) for chemicals may continue
- Georgia-Pacific has told market pulp customers that June list for U.S. southern pine is $525/metric ton.
- Purchasing Hotline
- Recycling Resources
- SUPPLY INSIGHTS
- BUYING PLANS/PRICE EXPECTATIONS
- LEADTIMES
- FORECASTS
- Business curbs investment
- Consumers spend heavily
- GDP surprises in Q1
- STRATEGIC COST INSIGHTS
- Turning back turbine prices
- TRANSPORTATION
- LTL REPORT
- LTL rates still climbing
- Transportation
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