Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
June 9, 2014
Those of you who know me understand that during my steel sales career I not only worked in the service center segment of the industry but I also represented a domestic steel mill and, during the last five years of my career I also represented two trading companies who were selling foreign steel into the United States. I believe in free trade and, the I believe in fair trade. What is fair and reasonable is a matter which can be debated (and will be debated at our Steel Summit Conference) and we may never come to a consensus of opinion. However, there are times when you have to look at the trading companies and the foreign mills they are representing and scratch your head. The South Koreans are a case in point…
The South Koreans must be very comfortable that the dumping accusations against them will fail as they are shipping steel to the U.S. as though we were their next door neighbors and they have a free pass to use the place whenever the need suits them. The amount of OCTG and other South Korean steel products which will exceed 500,000 net tons in May and is a direct challenge to the existence of the U.S. steel industry. At some point in time you would think that the South Koreans and the trading companies representing them would use some common sense…Don’t you think it would be a little wiser to wait until the dumping suits have been totally put to bed before you start shipping every pound of steel you possibly can?
I have never been one to believe running to Washington, D.C. ever ended up actually helping the steel industry. Maybe politics is the answer for those who don’t understand that you can’t ruin an industry just because you have the ability to do so. We have these (sometimes foolish) buy America laws – why can’t those companies who are drilling on state or public land be required to use OCTG and line pipe produced in the USA (or at least North America)?
Your comments are welcome: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com
We have a couple of spots remaining for our Managing Price Risk II: Strategies & Execution workshop which will be held in Chicago on June 24-25, 2014. More details can be found in the Events section of our website.
We will continue to follow the stories regarding AK Steel and another potential blast furnace issue. I did notice this morning that AK was quoting hot rolled week of July 20th and cold rolled and galvanized at the week of August 3rd.
If you become aware of any production issues at any of the domestic steel mills or, for that matter, have any steel-related information which you think is of importance for the greater steel community to understand, please send it our way. We will do our best to research the issue and find out as much detailed information as possible. You can send information to: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
I look forward to seeing you in Atlanta on September 3 & 4, 2014…
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!