Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
July 21, 2014
For those of you who don’t realize it – Steel Market Update is conducting our mid-July market analysis this week. I have added a couple of questions about the sale of the Dearborn and Columbus steel mills. I will send out a reminder email first thing in the morning on Wednesday. If you receive an invitation please take a moment to click on the link and respond to our questionnaire (which is done through SurveyMonkey.com). If you would like someone in your company to take our survey (must be involved in the flat rolled industry in a executive, sales management or purchasing role). The survey will continue through Thursday afternoon.
I want to remind all of our readers that you have full access to all of our website including those areas reserved for Premium Level users. We have opened the website and our Premium Supplemental newsletters to our regular members through the end of July. If you have any questions about how to access our survey results, imports by product, port and country, key market indicators or any other Premium Level product please send us an email and we will walk you through it. Email us at: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
Our next Steel 101: Introduction to Steelmaking & Market Fundamentals workshop is open for registration. In fact, it is almost one-third sold out. The workshop will be held in Fort Wayne, Indiana and will include a tour of the Steel Dynamics (SDI) Butler flat rolled mini-mill. We are finding our program is getting more and more popular as companies who have sent people in the past send their newest and brightest employees and executives. The dates on this next Steel 101 workshop are October 7 & 8, 2014. If you have any questions please let me know. If you would like recommendations we can give you a number of people to speak to. I want to thank Steel Dynamics for allowing us to tour their facility as well as their hospitality which is spilling into dinner on the evening of the first day of our workshop.
For that matter I want to thank all of the mills who have been generous with their time and energies and have worked with our Steel 101 team all over the country. We have worked with NLMK USA and toured their Portage, Indiana plant; we have worked with Severstal NA on three occasions – once in Columbus and twice in Dearborn. We know and appreciate the assets just purchased by SDI and AK Steel. We also visited California Steel Industries in Fontana, California where on a September afternoon temperatures reached somewhere around 100 degrees. In Canada we worked with ArcelorMittal Dofasco and their great staff. We also have toured the SSAB mill in Mobile, Alabama and the Nucor Arkansas plant in Hickman, AR.
We would love to work with other mills as we have students lined up from across the country that are thirsting to learn more about the steel industry. If interested please contact me at 800-432-3475 or by email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com
It’s Tuesday evening and the week is not yet half over. Will this week be one we will be talking about as a game changer for the industry?
As always your business is appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
Come join us in Atlanta on September 3 & 4!
John Packard
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Final thoughts
SMU had the pleasure of attending the American Iron and Steel Institute's (AISI's) annual general meeting in Washington this week. It was a slow week in our nation's capital, so we were able to take a leisurely stroll around the National Mall and take in the sights. Just kidding. In fact, the meeting coincided with significant trade actions announced by the Biden administration. It included, among other things, additional tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum.
Final thoughts
Our spot price is little changed this week after moving sharply lower last week on the heels of Nucor’s unexpected price cut. Here’s one thought on that trend: Nucor's weekly HR price (aka, its “Consumer Spot Price” or CSP) has to date functioned almost more like a monthly price.
Final thoughts
What's the tea in the steel industry this week? Here's the latest SMU gossip column! Just kidding... kind of. Yes, some of the comments we receive in our weekly flat-rolled market steel buyers' survey are honestly too much to put into print. Some make us laugh. Some make us cringe. Some are cryptic. Most are serious. We appreciate them all. Below are some highlights from our survey results this week. Some of the comments that we can share with you are also included, in italics, in the buyers' own words, with minimal editing on our part.
Final thoughts
Last week we wrote about a brief lull in price movement, labeling it a period of wait and see. It did, in fact, turn out to be pretty brief. This week... things are little bit different. Perhaps right now we are more in a period of "hope and pray" or "Here we go, hold on to your hats."
Final thoughts
Unless you've been under a rock, you know by know that Nucor's published HR price for this week is $760 per short ton, down $65/st from the company’s $825/st a week ago. I could use more colorful words. But I think it’s safe to say that most of the market was not expecting this. For starters, US sheet mills never announce price decreases. (OK, not never. It has come to my attention that Severstal North America rescinded a price increase back on Feb. 14, 2012. And it caused quite the ruckus.)