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NEWS
PRODUCT UPDATE
Product Update
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Purchasing Hotline
PURCHASING HOTLINE - Count on having to confront one sure-bet shortage in your future: Talent.
- Look out for plans by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha)
- Dismiss any attempts to pass legislation that will keep Y2K problems out of the courts.
- Also dismiss sounds of pending doom about Y2K.
- Don't expect chemical exports to pick up until at least third quarter, perhaps even later.
- Watch for "skill standards for manufacturing and retailing,"
- Expect new rules from osha
- Is your MRO buying strategic--or do you just wing it?
- Keep an eye on results of Senate hearing on railroad competition.
- Office-rent rate hikes in most major U.S. cities will be minimal this year.
- Expect machine-tool orders to pick up this year,
- EPA will ease rules for disposing lead-paint residues, which will reduce cleanup costs of construction.
- Plan on inflation staying low this year,
- Keep an eye on new encryption bill that would liberalize exports.
- Don't expect ocean shipping deregulation to lower rates much,
- Paper prices will begin to recover this year
- Similar scenario in '99 for pulp prices,
- Visit Purchasing's Web site at www.purchasing.com for up-to-the-minute buying data
- Look for national chemical distributors to go global,
- Count on Federal Trade Commission to vigorously fight boycotts by retail groups
- If you're a purchasing pro in the chemical process industries (CPI), don't miss our latest book,
- Keep an eye on Surface Transportation Board vote on proposed merger of Canadian National Railway Co. and Illinois Central Corp.
Economy - The economy went out with a boom in fourth-quarter 1998, growing at a 5.6% annualized pace.
- Latest industry survey from the National Association of Business Economists (nabe) finds that, "price weakness prevailed
- Latest member survey from the Manufacturers' Alliance finds only 31% of firms reporting capacity utilization in excess of 85%.
- Manufacturing productivity surged 5.6% in fourth-quarter 1998
- Despite the economic growth surge in fourth-quarter 1998, employment cost pressures appear to have moderated.
- Tune in next issue to see who won Purchasing's 1998 Crystal Ball
Markets - U.S. paper industry sales rose less than 2% last year to $116.2 billion
- U.S. paper and paperboard production totaled 94.69 million tons in 1998
- Makers of wireless phones sold a record 162.9 million units worldwide last year
- Compaq Computer was the leading seller of personal computers worldwide last year
- At 15.6 million units, motor vehicle production
- Supply of coated printing papers continues to exceed domestic demand
- Buyers can expect a 200,000-tonne surplus in the global aluminum market this year
- U.S. net purchases of printing and writing papers (domestic shipments plus imports less exports) grew 2.3% in 1998
- The merger of No. 8 papermaker Union Camp with No. 1 producer International Paper
- The strong market for executives should continue through first half 1999
- U.S. shipments of major home appliances rose 10.2% in 1998 to 56.6 million units
- Industrial hydraulics supply has a new global leader in Eaton of Cleveland.
- Watch for new super-hard-alloy cutting tools from Kennametal.
- Compaq Computer has formed Compaq.com
- A new type of flexible thermoplastic insulation to cover hot and cold piping
- AlliedSignal's Specialty Chemicals business will expand its supply of specialty chemicals
- A marketing alliance to integrate office furniture and cabling to create more efficient workplaces
- Forest Alliance USA Corp. is the new name for the Stamford, Conn.-based firm
- Oriented strand board now accounts for 50% of structural panel sales in North America
Prices - World crude oil is selling for $10/barrel, and could fall lower.
- Despite heady demand for copper mill products from domestic builders and manufacturers, cathode is stuck at 60¢-62¢/lb
- Spot polyethylene (PE) prices dropped an average 6¢/lb in 1998
- Natural rubber producers Malaysia and Thailand are accusing rubber consumer countries of behaving unfairly
- An early-February short-lived surge in London Metal Exchange nickel was triggered by speculators
- Natural gas for March delivery from U.S. wellheads averaged just $1.77 per million
- Mainline 64-Mb dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips have gained more than a buck a piece
- Intel cut prices on Celeron microprocessors by as much as 24%
- Weyerhaeuser, the world's largest maker of market pulp, has cut $15/metric ton
- Wood pulp prices will inflate little (if at all) this year
- Corrugated container producers plan to boost box prices 11%-14%
- Merchant mercury prices may be ready to tumble.
- Nucor's decision to boost sheet steel prices by $10/ton
- American Pad & Paper wants to increase the price of its white wove commodity envelopes by 7%
- Prices have risen up to 30% on active-matrix flat-panel computer monitors.
- Dow Chemical has boosted spot prices by $25/dry short ton
- Major airlines have raised fares 2% for business class and 4% for economy.
- Bismuth continues to average $3/lb
- North American cadmium is stuck at 20¢/lb
- Prices for solid-state disk drives slipped to $16/megabyte in 1998
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