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Metals demand to stay strong in 'industrial sector decade'.

Article Excerpt
The U.S. economy is in the midst of the "industrial sector decade," which promises continued strong demand for metals suppliers.

The forecast for the remainder of the decade is positive, if not entirely predictable. "The next couple of years will be very good times for most of industrial America. The only thing you can guarantee about it is that it will not be linear," says Eli Lustgarten, president of ESL Consultants LLC, who presented a market overview at the Metals Service Center Institute's Specialty Metals Conference last month in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

Lustgarten says the industrial economy began its rebound in 2004 and has continued surging ever since. This year will see further growth, though perhaps not as rapid as in the previous two years.

"The difference between 2006 and 2004-2005 is that we are in a transition year, what we call a mid-cycle economy. The bottom line is that 2006 likely will be average or normal," he says, but adds, "average is good."

2006 is widely expected to be stronger in the first half than the second, though many are underestimating the full year's potential, Lustgarten says, pointing to the Institute for Supply Management's February Report on Business that shows economic activity in the manufacturing sector grew for...

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