Purchasing - September 01, 1998
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- Count on seeing new pollution curbs on cars and light trucks from EPA
- Chances of hiking prime rate went from slim to none
- Expect further slippage in nickel prices
- Get ready for more hikes by trans-Pacific carriers next year
- Watch for more steel industry mergers in North America and Europe
- Visit Purchasing's Web site at www.purchasing.com
- Expect the next paper price battle to be fought over high-bright uncoated groundwood specialties
- Count on paying higher ocean shipping costs for goods moving from the U.S. to Latin America
- If you're a purchasing pro in the chemical process industries (CPI), don't miss our latest book
- Look for coated free-sheet paper prices to head even lower
- Plan on paying 3%-5% more in postal rates on Jan. 10
- Expect tinplate demand slippage to get even worse in the second half of the year
- Expect depressed Asian markets to keep serious downward pressure on commodity chemical prices
- Look for tighter rules next year from Congress on bribing overseas parties for business purposes
- Plan on more problems with rail freight this fall in Southwestern, Western, and Midwestern states
- Note: Small Business Administration has new program aimed at lining up money for small businesses
- Understanding data and the sophisticated methods used to produce business forecasts will be vital to your career in supply management
- The Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) in London says benchmark Brent crude oil will average
- TRANSACTION PRICES
Economy - Bad news on productivity in quarter two
- Growth in the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (Real GDP) slowed dramatically in second-quarter 1998
- Uncle's Employment Cost Index (ECI), shows total compensation rising 3.5% between June 1997 and June 1998
- A Purchasing poll of economists finds widely diverging views on the outlook for the next twelve months
Markets - In the largest industrial combination ever, British Petroleum of London and Amoco of Chicago will merge
- Americans bought 9,742,098 vehicles through July 1998, a 2.2% gain over year-ago
- Alcoa, the world's largest aluminum producer, has completed its $3.8 billion acquisition of Alumax
- The nation's sixth-largest chemical distributor Holland Chemical International
- Projections for airline passenger traffic growth
- Aluminum beverage-can shipments rose 2% through first-half 1998 to 52.03 billion units
- The "new" Hercules in Wilmington, Del., will be a specialty chemicals giant
- North American and European steel production is expected to decline next year
- Merchant industrial gas capacity is growing
- Georgia-Pacific is closing the Southern hardwood market pulp portions
- Bell Atlantic and GTE plan a merger that would create the nation's second-largest telephone company
- Data-switching gear maker Ascend Communications of Alameda, Calif.
- Nissan Motor, Japan's struggling No. 2 automaker, will stop producing 200SX subcompact coupes at its Smyrna, Tenn., plant
Prices - Prices for coiled steel plate have gone from smooth-sailing at high levels to a tempest of discounts
- Spot-market tags for polyvinyl chloride will remain weak through 1999
- Atwell lowers nonferrous forecasts
- Spot ferrochrome prices should stumble
- Secondary aluminum market insiders suggest it will be some time before prices for die-casting alloys recover
- Natural gas prices closed July at a 16-month low
- Zinc prices remain low despite strong demand in North America and Europe
- Market prices for stainless steel pipe and tube products have fallen 5%
- Bulk shipping rates will remain relatively low through 2002
- Softening demand has led to price discounting for solid bleached sulfate grades of paperboard
- Midwest spot pricing for 2x4-inch lumber continues to crack
- Producers are postponing an announced $40/ton price increase for standard 30-lb newsprint
- Copper and zinc prices will be weak through next year
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