Steel Products
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
January 30, 2013
Our Steel 101: Introduction to Steelmaking & Market Fundamentals Workshop is quickly filling up. We have about 6 spots left available for our February 27-28 workshop which will be held in the Columbus, Mississippi area and include a tour of the Severstal Columbus mini-mill. You can learn more about our program on our website or you are welcome to contact us at our offices with any questions you might have. You can register online or by contacting our office at 800-432-3475 (706-216-5440).
I want to take a moment to welcome our newest members and to remind them – and those who have been with us for awhile – if you have any questions or suggestions we are here and available to listen and respond. We can be reached by email: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by phone: 800-432-3475 and we encourage interaction. If you would like to participate in our surveys please send me an email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com. We also encourage you to suggest us to your friends. We try to let our product and our customers speak on our behalf – and we thank you in advance for your kind words.
We will dig into the earnings conference calls a little deeper in the next 24 hours to see if any secrets were revealed. Early reports suggest it was a long day for the analysts with few crumbs dropped…
The Big River Steel press release – I don’t recall when I have ever seen a press release for a $1 billion steel mill so few on details – no tonnage – no products.
As always your business is truly appreciated.

John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Steel Products

Steel caucus pushes US trade officials to maintain strong S232 program
The bipartisan Congressional Steel Caucus is pushing for US officials to maintain a robust Section 232 program as they negotiate trade deals with America's trading partners.

Active rig count declines in US, Canada
Oil and gas drilling activity slowed in the US and Canada this past week. An unfamiliar trend after both regions saw repeated gains of late.

Plate market buzzes with rumors of secret deals from mills
Carbon steel plate market participants suspect that this week’s modestly softer prices are the result of quietly negotiated prices between plate purchasers and mills.

HR Futures: Forward curve shifts lower, structure maintains
Scraping lower-quartile $800s on nearby futures is bringing limited trading ideas for CME hot-rolled coil (HRC) at present.

Nucor drops HR spot price to $865/ton
Nucor has lowered its hot-rolled (HR) spot price by another $10 per short ton (st) this week.