Latest from Mag

Plenty of executive appointments over the past two weeks. Here’s Electrical Marketing’s expanded coverage of personnel changes in the electrical market.
Dec. 21, 2012
Wire man John Pasqual and lighting rep Jack Melnick
Dec. 21, 2012
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Electrical product prices remained on their flat trend, showing no change from October and little change in almost all major product categories.
Dec. 21, 2012
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Privately-owned housing starts in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 861,000, 3% below the revised October estimate, but 21.6% above the Nov. 2011 rate.
Dec. 21, 2012
Dec. 21, 2012
Veteran reps form new agency in Raleigh; WinWholesale buys Lloyd Graves in Texas; United Electric Supply expands through acquisition; and more.
Dec. 21, 2012
W.W. Grainger Inc., Lake Forest, Ill., announced plans to purchase Techni-Tool Inc., Worcester, Pa., a 200-plus employee distributor supplying customers in the cable television...
Dec. 21, 2012
Kaman Industrial Technologies (KIT), the industrial distribution business Kaman Corp., Bloomfield, Conn., has built up in recent acquisitions of Minarik, Zeller Electric and others...
Dec. 21, 2012
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg offered an update on the city’s plans to renovate its infrastructure to withstand future storms.
Dec. 7, 2012

NEMA Says Gulf Coast Rebuilding May Boost Industry Sales

A report from the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), Rosslyn, Va., said although the damage from Hurricane Katrina is catastrophic, the electrical industry can expect to benefit from the massive reconstruction efforts.
Oct. 14, 2005
2 min read

A report from the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), Rosslyn, Va., said although the damage from Hurricane Katrina is catastrophic, the electrical industry can expect to benefit from the massive reconstruction efforts.

Many suppliers of power equipment reporting strong demand are already worrying about keeping up with this growing demand in the short term. Electrical manufacturers that utilize petrochemicals such as resin are also facing shortages of input materials that are making it difficult to ramp up production to meet the boost in demand related to hurricane damage to structures. But the electrical industry can expect that strong replacement demand for housing and commercial and industrial structures will increase demand for building equipment and power equipment manufacturers for the remainder of this year and much of next year. Nonetheless, the surge in demand will come at a price. Rising building materials and energy costs will detract from potential gains.

The economic impact of the storms on industrial drivers for the electrical industry will likely be mixed. Reduced demand elsewhere resulting from higher energy costs and a shift in government and private sector resources to the Gulf region will be offset to some degree by replacement demand in that region for storm damaged appliances, automobiles, and capital equipment. The sudden increase in demand for electrical products is to a large extent transitory and that the long term outlook, while positive, is not quite as good as the near term conditions might suggest.