Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

Written by John Packard

March 24, 2014

I have been asked about the rumor mill surrounding coated products and especially the Asian 4 exporting countries. The Asian 4 are: China, India, Taiwan and South Korea. Steel Market Update is aware that at least one mill has been pushing for dumping suits on coated products. We understand that not all mills favor the suit. We do not know if it will ever be filed but, just the threat of one has the light gauge galvanized and painted Galvalume markets shaking a bit.

The question I ask myself is can the domestic mills prove injury. Not being a trade law expert I can’t answer that question. There does seem to be a larger percentage than normal on Galvalume imports and they are growing according to the import data we have been reporting on. However, South Korean exports of OCTG have been out of whack and, to date, they have not had to pay any penalties.

The other import rumor out there is a potential suit against Chinese cold rolled. Again, the rumor is pointing to one domestic mill and the question is will others support the complaint?

Stupidity has hit close to home… I am speaking at the Toronto Steel Buyers dinner on Wednesday evening. So, being the bright person that I am, I finally got around to fetching my passport only to find that it expired on March 15th… Can you say darn it with enthusiasm? I sure did. So, I fly to Detroit only to visit a passport office and hope that my request for an expedited process will be done with compassion (and haste) so I can make my speech. By the way – stupid is when the arrangements for this speech were made 1.5 years ago….

For those attending the dinner I promise to deliver a good program – I just need to get there in time.

After this speech I anticipate staying close to the office for a few weeks.

Registration for the next Steel 101 workshop are going well. We have approximately 8-10 spots left before we will be sold out. If you are interested you can find details on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com or you are welcome to contact our offices: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by phone: 800-432-3475.

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

John Packard

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