Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
January 17, 2014
I will be in my office on Monday, Thursday and Friday of this week. I will be traveling to New York City for the AHR Expo on Tuesday and Wednesday. If you are attending the AHR Expo and would like to seek me out you can do so by email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by phone (or text) at 770-596-6268.
Early indications from discussions held with members of the scrap community are the ferrous scrap prices are slipping and will be down $20 to $40 per ton compared to the beginning of January numbers by early February or the latest early March 2014. We are hearing reports of scrap already being bought down $20-$25 in the Birmingham area and there is scrap coming in from Canada as well as scrap originally destined for export is flooding into the domestic markets.
It is important that sheet buyers be aware of the developments in the scrap markets and watch prices carefully over the next month or longer.
As always we thank you for your business which is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher

John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts: AMU brings the news
Usually, I write about steel in this column because, well, we’re Steel Market Update. But before I get to steel, I want to give a shoutout to my colleagues at Aluminum Market Update (AMU) – SMU’s new sister publication.

Final Thoughts
If I could change something, it’d be this: Political news would get more boring. And news about steel prices and steel demand would get a little more exciting.

Final Thoughts: Survey says edition
SMU’s latest survey results indicate that steel market participants think sheet prices are at or near a bottom. But most also think there is limited upside once they inflect higher.

Final Thoughts
A recent IIMA meeting in Brazil shows how the US and much of the rest of the world are operating in parallel realities.

Final Thoughts
We moved our pricing momentum indicators from “lower” to “neutral” for all sheet products this week. For those keeping score, we had been at “lower” for six weeks. And I know some of you think we should have been there for even longer.