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'Good ol' days' in the making: though still constrained by tight raw material supplies, the market for most forms of mechanical tubing should be robust in 2005.

Article Excerpt
The North American mechanical tubing market is poised for another good year thanks to strong end-use demand, little import competition and tight supplies--all working together to allow producers to raise prices and increase margins.

"While 2005 will likely be calmer than 2004, it will be an excellent year from both a volume and a profit standpoint. There is every opportunity that it will become one of the good ol' days," says Ed Vore, vice president of marketing and sales for the mechanical tubing group of Copperweld Corp., Shelby, Ohio.

In fact, says Robert Keeler, director of North and South American steel sales for The Timken Co., Canton, Ohio, "2005 will likely be the best year we have seen since the 1977-78 timeframe."

While less glowing in his assessment, Bill Jones, president of O'Neal Steel Inc., Birmingham, Ala., is still very optimistic. "The market for mechanical tubing was pretty strong all through 2004. While it is currently going through a seasonal lull, all indications are that it should remain strong at least through the first half of this year."

But because the second half of 2004 was not quite as active as the first, some companies are "holding their breath, anxiously waiting for the first part of the new year to see how it sorts itself out," says Bill Wolfe, executive director of the Steel Tube Institute of North America.

Part of these reason for these slightly different...

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