The Steel Framing Industry Association has been busy preparing for its annual meeting as well as putting out their quarterly report. With both out of the way, W&C has the recap.

Annual Meeting:

As a part of SFIA’s Annual Meeting, the association hosted an additional session Monday March 26 titled “The Big Picture: Steel and Construction in 2018” that examined the state of the steel and construction industries in 2018 and in the future.

The special speakers for this session were Timothy Gill, the chief economist for the American Iron and Steel Institute and Kathryn Thompson, founding Partner and CEO of Thompson Research Group (TRG), where she also serves as director of research.

Mr. Gill provided an insider's look at the various factors shaping the market for steel in 2018. He also presented his short-range outlook on trade, raw materials, and domestic and foreign production, along with other valuable insights and perspective. 

As an expert in construction end-markets, Ms. Thompson shared share tonnage data from 2017, along with her 2018 outlook on steel and various factors shaping the construction industry.

Also during its annual meeting, SFIA introduced its Contractor Certification Program.

The SFIA is exhibiting at the 2018 INTEX Expo at the Walt Disney Dolphin and Swan Resort. Be sure to visit our booth #1249 from 12:30 - 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 27 and from 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 28.

For more information on AWCI's Convention & INTEX Expo, programs, exhibitors, and sponsorship opportunities, visit www.awci.org/convention

Quarterly Report:

The volume of steel used to manufacture cold-formed steel (CFS) framing products dipped slightly in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to the latest Quarterly Market Data Report released by the Steel Framing Industry Association (SFIA).

CFS manufacturers reported using 272,305 total tons (raw tons before processing) of steel in the fourth quarter of last year, according to SFIA’s industry-wide statistical summary, down from 286,543 total tons reported in the previous quarter.

Other fourth-quarter highlights:

• Total structural tons reported: 132,045*
• Total nonstructural tons reported: 132,779*

(*Note:  Companies participating in the CFS survey have the option of reporting Total tons, or tons of Structural and Nonstructural products. Consequently, the figures for Structural and Nonstructural tons may differ from Total tons. In these instances, the figure for Total Tons always provides the most complete picture.)

“A slight decline in CFS volume for the Fourth Quarter is not necessarily a surprise,” said Larry Williams, executive director of the Steel Framing Industry Association. “Overall manufacturing volume for 2017 was relatively flat as the anticipated infrastructure spending bill has not yet materialized and the construction industry continues to struggle with a tight labor supply.” However, he also added that the prevailing sentiment among manufacturers is that 2018 will be better than 2017.

The market statistics are contained in the “SFIA Quarterly Market Data Report,” which is the only report that provides buyers and users of CFS framing with timely, high-quality information on CFS framing, including quarter-to quarter tonnage by region, as well as statistics on material inventory by region and type.

Thompson Research Group (TRG) surveys manufacturers and aggregates the data set which includes tons of steel used to produce studs, track, joists, and related CFS materials. According to Kathryn Thompson, CEO of the Thompson Research Group, at least 85 percent of the CFS framing manufactured in the US is captured in the report - a significantly higher percentage than what is typically found in many similar industry reports. 

TRG also produces a companion publication The SFIA Quarterly Data and Analysis, which contains intelligence, gleaned from the field and relevant data and presents the CFS framing data in the context of other construction market indexes.

“In addition to having the most current information, the Data and Analysis Report helps users make better business decisions by helping them understand what the data means,” said Thompson.

Access the full report at: sfiadata.com