AUTOMOTIVE/OEM
BUYING ENERGY
BUYLINES
Computers, Business Systems and office Products
CPI Edition
CPI EDITION
CPI Edition
CPI EDITION
CPI Edition
CPI EDITION
CPI Edition
Electronics Purchasing
HOTLINE - Look for overall industrial prices to remain stable throughout the summer months.
- Expect Intel to continue its aggressive price cutting despite FTC charges of possible anti-trust violations in the way it competes on the semiconductor market.
- Discount talk of dram supplier shrinkage. Number of suppliers will remain relatively stable
- Keep an eye on connector market
- Don't get too excited about fuel prices for summer and fall months
- Get up to speed on the Internet
- Do you know how your company's transportation buy affects other supply management strategies?
- Where's the best place to work?
- Despite release delays of "Merced," Intel's next-generation microprocessor, company is aggressively releasing faster, more powerful versions of Pentium II
- Is your company using pirated software?
- TRANSACTION PRICES
Economy - GDP estimate jumps
- The U.S. balance of payments deficit swelled
- While a ballooning trade deficit hounds the economic horizon
- Purchasing's diffusion index tracking general price trends for common industrial supplies and raw materials
- It might pay to know which U.S. OEMs sell heavily into South Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia
- While the pack may be straying toward inflation anxiety
Markets - Meeting notices
- World trade is expected to slow only 2%-3% from 1998
- Electric-furnace steel producers in the Kanto region of Japan
- Buyers of citric acid products will see some changes in supply
- Imco Recycling of Irving, Texas, became the largest producer of secondary zinc
- U.S. paper production is reflecting monthly fluctuations in demand but the long-term trend is heading lower
- Toagosei Co., a Japanese maker of organic and inorganic chemicals
- Lead acid battery maker Exide intends to form a battery-charger
- Beryllium Component Technology, a supplier of Russian-made advanced technology beryllium metal components
- Sony is halting production of static random access memory chips (srams)
- Boeing, Airbus, and U.S. Fairchild Aerospace are each developing 100-seat jet aircraft
- Phillips Petroleum Co. will build a petrochemical plant in Alberta, Canada
- Taiwan computer maker, Acer, says it will soon boost annual PC assembly
- Graphic Packaging, a subsidiary of ACX Technologies, will spend $35 million
- This summer, Amcast Industrial will permanently close its brass products plant
- Motorola will invest $750 million in Teledesic to help build
- The Valve Manufacturers Association is cautious about sales in 1998
- Abitibi-Consolidated of Montreal plans to spend more than $90 million
- Nissan Motor Co., Japan's second largest automaker, is preparing to move 2000 or 2001 production of its Maxima sedans to a plant in Smyrna
- Oil giant Atlantic Richfield of Los Angeles is selling its Arco Chemical division
- Asimco Component Group of Beijing, an auto components maker, is expanding into the U.S. market
Prices - Probe Economics, Millwood, N.Y., looks for petrochemical and polymer pricing to remain weak through 2002
- Buyers soon may see some good deals on laptop computers
- Styrene tags remain soft
- Increased worldwide availability keeps domestic methanol tags soft
- Palladium prices could exceed $450/oz
- A 13-inch liquid crystal display that sold for $1,000 last year is priced at just over $400 today
- Intel has cut sales prices by up to 20% on models of Pentium II microprocessors for desktop computers
- Spot market prices on nylon 6 and 6/6 grades have climbed an average of 6(cent)/lb in recent months
- Western nickel markets will show a small surplus this year
- A 5% price increase on coated groundwood papers has been rescinded
- Sales prices for zircon will hold at high levels
- Despite strong demand, "competitive market activity on pricing" has led polystyrene market leader
- Benchmark softwood pulp prices, which now stand at about $550/metric ton, are expected to drift downward this summer
- Cheap Asian newsprint imports have started to land on the West Coast
- Lumber prices will continue to slump despite projected near-record housing completions this year
- Copper cathode prices are expected to slip into a trading range of around 72.5-82.5(cent)/lb
- Plentiful supplies, high consumer inventories, cheap im-ports, and slowing demand will depress office white paper prices
- Prices are falling for flat glass products used to make liquid crystal displays in computers
- Buyers could see a third-quarter squeeze on lead supply in Europe
- Abundant supply plus a strike against General Motors assembly plants in Flint, Mich.
- Aluminum scrap prices remain in a pre-summer slump
- Market tags for commodity-grade acrylic have decreased by 3(cent)/lb since January
| INSIDE PURCHASING
Job scene
METALS
MRO/DISTRIBUTION
ON THE INTERNET
PRODUCT UPDATE
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Purchasing Software News
RECYCLING RESOURCES
STRATEGIES
SUPPLY INSIGHTS
TRANSPORTATION
|
