Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

Written by John Packard


We anticipate closing registration for the Ft. Wayne, Indiana Steel 101 workshop on Friday of this week. We have (once again) an excellent group of companies and people registered to attend with a record number of women attending (11). If you would like to learn more about our Introduction to Steelmaking & Market Fundamentals workshop you can do so under the Events tab on our website or by clicking here. You are also welcome to contact our office with any last minute questions that you might have: 800-432-3475.

For those of you who are interested in potentially meeting with me I am participating or covering a number of conferences and events this fall. I will be in Ft. Wayne for our Steel 101 workshop on October 6 & 7th. After that I will be in Las Vegas, NV for the ASD fall conference which is being held on October 30 through November 1st. Details can be found on the Association of Steel Distributors website.

On November 11-12 I will be in New York City speaking on a panel at the Cowen & Company conference.

I will also travel to Savannah, Georgia for the AWMI annual meeting which is being held on November 13-15, 2014. Details can be found on the Association of Women in the Metals Industries website.

Steel Market Update will also be conducting a private sales training workshop for a service center in Louisiana during the month of November. If you or your company is interested in exploring private consulting opportunities with SMU please contact me at: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com

As we enter the month of December there is one more conference I will be attending which is the HARDI conference in San Antonio, Texas on December 6-9th. Information can be found on the HARDI website for those interested in attending.

In January SMU will conduct our next Steel 101 workshop in South Carolina in conjunction with Nucor Berkeley. Exact dates, hotel information and costs will be posted on our website in the not too distant future.

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

John Packard, Publisher

Latest in Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

As Wolfe Research’s Timna Tanner 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.