Lagging economy points to flat tube market outlook

Sep 30, 2012 | 07:00 PM | Myra Pinkham

Tags  mechanical tube, mechanical tube outlook, William A. Wolfe, Steel Tube Institute of North America, Paul Vivian, mechanical tubing shipments, Christopher Plummer, Metal Strategies Myra Pinkham

While industry observers’ views on the future are clouded, the consensus is that the mechanical tubing market will be largely unchanged for the rest of this year and into next year, with a slight uptick possible depending on what direction the domestic and global economies take.

“Right now, mechanical tubing demand is OK. It isn’t great, but it isn’t atrocious either. But it has been weakening a little in the past few months,” said William A. Wolfe, executive director of the Steel Tube Institute of North America. The fact that mechanical tubing is used for some of the stronger end-use applications—including the automotive, heavy equipment, and oil and natural gas sectors—has helped buoy demand somewhat.....