Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
March 23, 2013
On a personal note I want to wish Joel Mazur much success in his new position as President of CENTRIA. For those of you who do not know this, Joel Mazur was president of Winner Steel while I was still an agent for the steel mill (Winner Steel is now called Sharon Coatings and is part of the NLMK USA group).
Our next Steel 101: Introduction to Steelmaking & Market Fundamentals workshop will be held in Canada in early June. We have just received confirmation from ArcelorMittal Dofasco that our group is welcome to tour their fully integrated steel mill. Our workshop will be headquartered at a local Hamilton, Ontario, Canada hotel. We will advise the exact dates in early June for the two day workshop once the mill has advised us of their maintenance schedule. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada is located across the border from Buffalo, New York. U.S. citizens will need to bring your passports to cross into Canada.
We still have openings in our next Managing Price Risk workshop which will be held in New York City on April 26th. Details can be found on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com or you can contact our office: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com
By the way – has anybody seen spring anywhere…?
Thank you to everyone who completed our steel survey. Next one will begin on April 1st (no kidding).
As always we truly appreciate your business – thank you.

John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts
Tariff-related noise aside, there is one basic factor keeping buyers on the sidelines. Despite recent declines, HR prices remain at historically high levels. And there is no obvious support to keep them there.

Final Thoughts
United Airlines raised eyebrows earlier this month when it provided two forecasts for 2025 – one assuming a relatively stable economy and another assuming a recession. The reason? Uncertainty around the impact of President Trump’s policy shocks on the broader economy. And it sometimes feels like we’re seeing a battle between those two narratives (stable vs recession) play out within in the pages of this newsletter.

Final Thoughts
Despite some scary headlines lately (especially about Trump potentially firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell) this is not October 2008 (financial crisis) or March 2020 (onset of the pandemic). But it sure seems like we’ve taken a relatively strong economy and poured a thick sauce of uncertainty over it.

Final Thoughts
I put some of our survey data through ChatGpt, with interesting results.

Final Thoughts
Nearly 50% of respondents to our latest survey thought hot-rolled coil prices have already peaked. And where will those prices be two months from now? Responses were decidedly split on that question.