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PURCHASING HOTLINE - Approach ERP systems implementation as a new business venture, not a typical IT project.
- Are you up to the competitive challenges of the electronics marketplace?
- Keep an eye on effort by group of travel-service providers to create e-commerce standard.
- Get up to speed on the Internet with Purchasing's new book on Internet-based procurement.
- Expect renewal of semiconductor deal with Japan by end of July.
- Look for Intel and other chip makers to acquire plants in Japan.
- Oil prices will slip in coming months
- Keep an eye on legislation that would give more teeth to electronic contracts.
- Imports from Asia increased only slightly in April
- Rate increases in eastbound cargo from Asia could be in trouble
- Are you able to squeeze out waste in office buying?
- Count on prices for fax/copiers to drop at least 10% by the end of 1999
- Electronics buyers: Look for microprocessor pricing wars to heat up this summer
- Look for cell phones with expanded capabilities to be available this summer
- Don't miss the 1999 Purchasing Conference
- Expect prices for personal computers to slip through year-end, but not dramatically
- Do you need a law degree to be an effective purchasing professional?
ECONOMY - A consensus of 29 professional forecasters queried recently by the National Association of Business Economists
- The Federal Open Market Committee (fomc) of the Federal Reserve showed that it's taking recent inflation signals seriously
- The U.S. trade gap rose to a new record high of -$19.7 billion in March
- Housing starts fell 10.1% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.57 million units
- The months of April-May have brought a rash of mildly alarming news on the inflation front
- Last call for Crystal Ball!
MARKETS - The possibility now seems remote that U.S. ethylene producers can rebalance supply and demand
- Natural rubber supplies will be plentiful this year
- Alcoa, the world's largest aluminum producer, may be moving into the ferroalloys market
- The boom in demand for industrial gas turbines will continue at double-digit annual growth rates through next decade
- Last summer's heat wave and power shortages have boosted domestic demand for industrial gas turbines
- Eastman Chemical Co. of Kingsport, Tenn., plans to acquire ink maker Lawter International
- Semiconductor maker Intel has introduced its fastest chip yet for the low end of the PC market
- Machine tool orders totaled $1.2 billion in the first three months of 1999
- The Agriculture Department says cotton stocks will rise more than 50% to 5.5 million 480-lb bales in the 1999-2000 crop year
PRICES - Demand from utilities has been light, so the June U.S. spot price for natural gas to industrial customers is stuck at just shy of $2.45
- Two major suppliers of carbonless paper, Appleton Papers and Mead, have announced June price increases
- Seven corrugating medium producers in North America have announced price hikes for this summer
- OPEC chief Youssef Yousfi says speculators influenced crude oil prices in recent weeks
- Intel has slashed prices on Pentium III 450- and 500-MHz chips, and has begun selling a new 550-MHz version
- Gold has been selling at a 20-year low following news that Britain plans to unload more than half of its 715 metric ton gold reserve
- Polypropylene prices are all over the place, ranging from as low as 21¢/lb for preferred customers to 29¢/lb for small-volume accounts
- Average tin prices in Malaysia have risen gradually this year from $2.27/lb in January to $2.51 in May
- Samancor of South Africa, one of the world's largest makers of the ferrochrome alloy used to make stainless steel harder and rust resistant, plans to cut output 15%
- U.S. newsprint prices dropped $30/metric ton recently
- Producers keep pushing for more polyvinyl chloride (PVC) price increases, but the market is responding only slowly
- Weyerhaeuser is telling customers worldwide to expect higher prices for northern bleached softwood kraft (nbsk) market pulp
- Most major North American producers have announced price hikes of $40/ton for roll bond paper used to make business forms
- Hewlett-Packard has announced sweeping price cuts of up to 25% across its entire range of Intel processor-based personal computers
- There is some evidence that spot zinc sales may have peaked at 54¢
- A wide gap has opened between U.S. prices for flat-rolled stainless steel and prices in Asia and Europe
- Citing strong demand plus increases in raw materials and transportation costs, Alcan Aluminum boosted its list prices for common alloy sheet products
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