2003 Service Center Year in Review/Metal service centers bid ready farewell to harsh 2003.

摘要

Forget lengthy retrospectives or worse waxing philosophical. Most metal service center executives are just happy to have the bulk of 2003 in their collective rearview mirror. Having amassed high and expensive inventories heading into the year, service centers were greeted with softer demand and lower prices in the first half of the year, setting the tone for what would round out to a tepid year at best for most. "We came in too heavy and the market softened at the beginning of the year," said Bill Sternard, vice president of marketing and director of purchasing for Viking Materials, Minneapolis. "We had a lot of inventory that was high priced, and the market crashed."