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Article: Buyers sourced record $67 billion in metals from distribution giants.
- Article from:
- Purchasing
- Article date:
- April 30, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Reed Business Information, Inc. (US). This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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By Tom Stundza
The biggest processing and distribution firms controlled 47% of $156 billion metals supply network in 2008.
Even though they bought substantially fewer tons in 2008, record high prices for metals through the middle of last year forced buyers to spend an all-time high amount of money for steels and nonferrous metals from service centers. In fact, buyers spent a record $66.6 billion with the Top 100 metals service centers in North America in 2008, a solid 9.5% increase over the previous adjusted high of $60.8 billion in 2007.
Interestingly, the value of metals bought increased even though buyers in various metalworking industries ...