Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
January 8, 2014
We will publish our next Premium Level Supplement Newsletter on Monday of next week. The supplement will contain currency data and information derived from this week’s steel market survey. We will also publish our Premium Level Power Point of the survey results for our Premium Level members either late on Friday or over the weekend. If you have interest in changing your membership to a Premium Level (cost is $1995 for one person per year) please contact either myself or Diana at 800-432-3475.
A quick reminder that I am speaking at the Association of Woman in the Metals Industry (AWMI) at the Erie Café, 536 West Erie Street in Chicago, Illinois on Thursday evening, January 16, 2014. If you would like to attend you can get tickets through Amanda.Tomsovic@arcelormittal.com. They are asking for RSVP’s by the 10th (Friday of this week) but they do allow walk-ins if you decide you would like to attend at the last minute. Networking begins at 6 PM, dinner at 6:30 PM and the program starts at 7:30 PM. They have told me I have 20-30 minutes to speak – I will try to make it an interesting 20-30 minutes. (P.S. – someone needs to pray for warm and sunny weather so my flight gets in on time)
Our developers have been tweaking with the mobile version of our website and with the graphics which are displayed on mobile devices. They have solved the issue related to our interactive graphics and the mobile phones (or so we are being told). Please take a moment and try to read our newsletter on your mobile phones and tablets. The best way is to turn the phone or tablet sideways (landscape) which will increase the font size and make it easier to read. The mobile website requires you to log in just like the main website in order to see the interactive graphics.
We know there are still a number of you out there who have yet to log into the website for the first time and reset your passwords and provide accurate information about your account. It takes about three minutes to do – if you need a new user name and password sent us an email at: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com and we will create them for you (simple ones not hard ones) and if you need it we can also walk you through the process. Please take a moment to complete the log in process.
We have had a number of companies upgrade one (or two) of their people to our new Premium Level membership. We have also had a number of companies upgrade their accounts by adding more people to Executive Corporate Memberships. We have also had a number of new companies who were not sure about needing to read our newsletters as often as they are sent out and have opted for the Monthly Newsletter. We appreciate each and every one of you.
SMU also greatly appreciates the steel community for recognizing how hard we work on your behalf and that you feel we are providing quality information. So much so that you are willing to risk your reputation by recommending our newsletters and website to your suppliers, customers and friends within the steel industry. Your kind words are greatly appreciated.
As always your business is what keeps us not only afloat but growing and able to produce more and better products and services. Thank you.
John Packard, Publisher
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts
Final thoughts
SMU has heard from some larger buyers who have stepped back into the market to buy at prices that, if not at a bottom, they assess to be close to one. Is it enough to stretch out lead times and send prices upward again? Or do we continue to scrape along the mid-$600s per short ton (st) as we have been doing for most of the last month?
Final thoughts
Cleveland-Cliffs Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves had some insightful things to say today about the steel market and about a conference we suspect might be Steel Summit.
Final thoughts
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, when you add in some commentary from respected peers in the steel industry to those pictures, that may shoot you up to five thousand words, at least. In that spirit, we’ve added some snapshots from our market survey this week, along with some comments from market participants.
Final thoughts
I thought we’d have more clarity this week on Section 232, Mexico, and a potential carve-out for steel melted and poured in Brazil. As of right now, the only official comment I have is from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).
Final thoughts
There are just 40 days left until the 2024 SMU Steel Summit gets underway on Aug. 26 at the Georgia International Convention Center (GICC) in Atlanta. And I’m pleased to announce that it's official now: More than 1,000 people have registered to at attend! Another big development: The desktop version of the networking app for the event has officially launched!