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Change In Percent of Georgia Participants Reporting Higher, Same and Lower APRIL - MARCH

Higher Same Lower

New Orders 50.0 -50.0 0.0

Production 8.3 0.0 -8.3

Employment -8.3 8.3 0.0

Deliveries 0.0 0.0 0.0

Finished Inventory -8.3 -16.7 25.0

Commodity Prices -16.7 16.7 0.0

PMI Georgia, PMI Southeast, and PMI National

Nov '17 Dec '17 Jan '18 Feb '18 Mar '18 Apr '18 Apr - Mar

PMI GA 62.5 60.0 59.2 67.7 66.7 69.2 +2.5

PMI Southeast 59.1 55.8 56.2 69.7 65.4 65.7 +0.3

PMI National 58.2 59.7 59.1 60.8 59.3 57.3 -2.0

Georgia Purchasing Manager’s Index Report

Furnished by Roger Tutterow, Ph.D., Kennesaw State University Econometric Center

Georgia and Southeastern PMI continue to signal robust expansion. National PMI con-curs, but at more moderate pace.

May 3, 2018

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GEORGIA PMI COMPONENTS

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GEORGIA PMI COMPONENTS (cont’d)

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GEORGIA PMI COMPONENTS (cont’d)

Specific commodities UP IN PRICE were:

"Plate, flat rolled, structurals, merchant bar, tubing, steel, corrugated, red and white oak lumber, hickory lumber, steel and aluminum and everything made from them, paper and paper board, coatings, coated and uncoated printing paper, synthetic rubber, sheet metal, paperboard, diesel fuel, basic chemicals such as caustic soda, OSB, pine lumber, multi-wall paper bags, polypropylene resin, natural gas, labor, corrugated packaging supplies,Ti02 and plastic pails.."

Specific commodities DOWN IN PRICE were:

"Zinc oxide."

Items in Short Supply- Specific commodities, materials or finished products I buy that were in short supply last month are:

"Coil and plate, steel, red and white oak lumber, hardwood lumber, zinc, Ti02, Diatomaceous earth, multi wall bags, electronic components (capacitors, resistors, ...)"

Buying Policy - Report here any change during the last month, versus the prior month, in the number of days ahead you are committing for purchases of production ma-terials, MRO supplies and capital spending:

"Buy ahead on raw materials."

"Order restraint, order only when needed."

General Remarks - Give your frank opinion on any con-ditions, local, national or international, that affect your pur-chasing operation or your company’s outlook:

""Trucking has become a serious issue. "

"There is a huge shortage of truck drivers to ship steel products - incoming steel shipments are getting very diffi-cult to schedule."

"Good start to the year and seasonality will cause increase from here."

"Major problem exists with Chinese companies purchasing logs and lumber at higher volumes than ever. It is reducing the available lumber supply and increasing prices."

"Hearing lots of rumors of imminent price increases."

"Business is good. Media hype about tariffs is not helpful. Finding qualified employees remains a challenge. Pay is going up."

"Business is strong with continued price pressure in the commercial print segment."

"Waiting to see how Section 232 will impact stainless steel market (if at all)." █

COMMENTS FROM SURVEY PARTICIPANTS REGARDING CONDITIONS THAT AFFECT PURCHASING OPERATION

Industrial production rose 0.5 percent in March after in-creasing 1.0 percent in February; the index advanced 4.5 percent at an annual rate for the first quarter as a whole.

After having climbed 1.5 percent in February, manufactur-ing production edged up 0.1 percent in March. Mining out-put rose 1.0 percent, mostly as a result of gains in oil and gas extraction and in support activities for mining.

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FROM THE FEDERAL RESERVE INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION REPORT

The index for utilities jumped 3.0 percent after being sup-pressed in February by warmer-than-normal temperatures.

At 107.2 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial pro-duction was 4.3 percent higher in March than it was a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector moved up 0.3 percentage point in March to 78.0 percent, a rate that is 1.8 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2017) average.