Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
February 6, 2015
Just a quick note to let everyone know I will be in Tampa later this week for the Port of Tampa Steel Conference. I will be reporting on what I learned in Thursday evening’s edition of Steel Market Update.
I want to take a moment to welcome our newest members and to remind them that we are open to comments, questions and suggestions. A number of our articles each week come from suggestions from our readers. We also react to comments such as one reader who was interested in a particular graph that we had shared in an article. So, we put the data on our website in an interactive graph for all of our clients to enjoy. I can be reached at: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by phone at: 800-432-3475.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update – please go tell your friends about us…
John Packard, Publisher

John Packard
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Now that the USS/Nippon deal has been completed, what's next?

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Getting back to the price increases I mentioned at the top of this article, to what extent are they aimed at raising prices and to what extent are they aimed at stopping the bleeding that was happening in the second half of May, before President Trump announced the 50% tariff?

Final Thoughts
We just wrapped another Steel 101 Workshop, where you take what you learned in the classroom into the steel mill.

Final Thoughts
Steel equities and steel futures fell hard after news broke earlier this week that the US and Mexico might reach an agreement that would result in the 50% Section 232 tariff coming off Mexican steel. The sharp declines didn’t make much sense, especially if, as some reports indicate, Mexico might agree to a fixed quota. They didn't make sense even if steel flows between the US and Mexico remain unchanged.

Final Thoughts
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.