Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
August 29, 2014
We’ve gone well past hectic as we are literally within a few hours of kicking off our 4th Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta. We exceeded our registration goals and we had to expand both of the rooms we are using at the Georgia International Convention Center to accommodate the extra people. The place is set up and we’ve already begun to check-in those who have arrived at the Marriott Gateway Hotel the night before.
For those attending our Steel Summit Conference the day begins at 8:30 AM with a special pre-Summit workshop on Advanced High Strength Steels and the concept of light-weighting. The full conference will began at 10 AM Sharp in salon’s 6 & 7 in the south side of the Georgia International Convention Center (GICC).
For those who are flying into Atlanta in the morning – one note to remember – follow signs for Rental Cars – the SKYTRAIN goes to both the rental car lots (2nd stop) and the Marriott Gateway Hotel and GICC (1st Stop). There is no charge for the train which is located just outside the airport terminal. DO NOT TAKE THE MARTA TRAIN which goes downtown and cost money to ride. The SkyTrain has black cars and is free to ride.
Big River Steel has scheduled their “official” ground breaking for September 22nd. The ground breaking is by invitation only. Actual construction has already begun.
A note that we will not produce a Steel Market Update newsletter on Thursday due to our Steel Summit Conference. We will be back in full swing by Sunday evening.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
John Packard
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Even before the news about Mexico, I didn’t want to overstate the magnitude of the change in momentum. As far as we could tell, there hadn’t been a frenzy of new ordering following President Trump’s announcement of 50% Section 232 tariffs. But higher tariffs had unquestionably raised prices for imports, which typically provide the floor for domestic pricing. We’d heard, for example, that prices below $800 per short ton for hot-rolled (HR) coil were gone from the domestic market – even for larger buyers.
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I want to draw your attention to SMU’s monthly scrap market survey. It’s a premium feature that complements our long-running steel market survey. We’ve been running our scrap survey since late January. And over just that short time, it’s become a valuable way not only for us to assess where scrap prices might go but also to quantify some of the “fuzzy” indicators - like sentiment and flows - that help to put the price in context.
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I think there is an obvious case for sheet and plate prices going higher from here. That’s because, on a very basic level, the floor for flat-rolled steel prices, which is typically provided by imports, is now significantly higher than it was a week ago.