ISM Steel Buyers Tempted by Foreign Prices

Steel buyers in the November ISM Steel Buyers Survey are expecting general economic activity and sales and production to remain at current levels for the next six months. Eighty percent of buyers said general economic activity will remain the same while 90 percent expect the trend for sales and production in their industry to be unchanged.

For the short term three month period, the trend for incoming orders is expected to increase for 20 percent of buyers, stay the same for 50 percent, and decrease for 30 percent. Backlogs for the next three months are expected to increase said 20 percent of those surveyed, up from 8.3 percent in October. Of the remaining buyers, 50 percent expect backlogs to remain the same and 30 percent predict a decrease (up from 16.7 percent the previous month).