Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

Written by John Packard


A good portion of the Steel Market Update team is bolting for Mobile on Monday to prepare for our next Steel 101 workshop. We are looking forward to having a spirited workshop and we are appreciative of the efforts of our host steel mill – SSAB – as they prepare for our workshop touring their facility.

Our next Steel 101 workshop will be held in Dearborn, Michigan and the host mill will once again be Severstal Dearborn. We have already begun to take registrations for Dearborn and we do expect to sell out fairly quickly based on the feedback we have been receiving from those interested. You can get more information on our website.

After Mobile I will be traveling to Tampa to participate in the Port of Tampa Steel Conference on Thursday evening and Friday morning. By the way – the cost of the conference is $195 per person. You can find more information about the agenda/speakers, etc. on the Port’s website.

It’s Super Bowl Sunday – enjoy the game and we will speak more from Mobile later this week.

On Monday our early February market analysis will begin. Look for your invitations around 8 AM ET and please take a few moments to click on the link contained in the message and complete our survey.

As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.

John Packard, Publisher

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Final Thoughts

As Wolfe Research’s Timna Tanners put it in her opening talk at Tampa on Monday afternoon, we’re living in a world of “Trumplications” now. That probably means – at least in the short term – higher scrap costs, lower imports from countries hit with or threated tariffs, and higher steel prices. SMU data reflects that. Scrap went up in January. More than 75% of the respondents to our more recent survey expect scrap to go up again February, maybe by a lot. Lead times, meanwhile, have been ticking upward this month. It started with hot-rolled coil and plate earlier this month. Now we’re seeing coated lead times extending too.