Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
March 13, 2015
We will begin a new flat rolled steel market analysis (survey) on Monday morning at 8 AM ET. There are lots of questions which are unanswered and we want to probe your thoughts on the subject. As I mentioned, invites to the survey will be sent out at 8 AM ET. If you receive an invitation to participate please take a few moments to click on the link contained in the message which will take you to our questionnaire which is hosted by SurveyMonkey.com.
The chatter over the last couple of weeks has been what needs to happen for domestic prices to bottom. There are a number of ways companies are responding to what has happened over the past couple of months.
There are a number of companies who are wishing for the end to come so they don’t have to sell off inventory at ever increasing losses. These are the companies who are “upside down” in inventory. They may have double bought when foreign import prices looked so promising. Or they may have bought heavy domestically in anticipation of dumping suits that never got filed.
There is another group of companies who believe prices have further to fall. They are looking at the rise of the dollar, the demise of iron ore (which started dropping again last week) and are watching domestic scrap prices closely. They believe scrap has more to fall. If scrap does indeed fall in the next month or two then they believe steel prices will continue to drop.
Then there are those who are ready to buy (or who are buying) at current numbers.
What camp are you in?
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
The US scrap market finds itself in a familiar position as we progress into the final quarter of the year.
Final Thoughts
Musings on decarb, tariffs, and technology, and where it might be leading.
Final Thoughts
There are days when this feels like a “nothing ever happens” market. Don’t get me wrong. Plenty is happening in the world. It’s just that none of it seems to matter when it comes to sheet and plate prices.
Final Thoughts: AMU brings the news
Usually, I write about steel in this column because, well, we’re Steel Market Update. But before I get to steel, I want to give a shoutout to my colleagues at Aluminum Market Update (AMU) – SMU’s new sister publication.
Final Thoughts
If I could change something, it’d be this: Political news would get more boring. And news about steel prices and steel demand would get a little more exciting.