Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by Brett Linton
June 12, 2015
Just a quick note to let our Premium level members know that earlier this week we put the latest imports by product, port and country on our website. You can review the data by clicking here.
We received notification from the MSCI that their data will be released on Monday of next week. We will have our Apparent Excess analysis probably on Tuesday. We anticipate that our forecast will be off (we had projected flat rolled shipments at 113,000 tons per day which is probably high).
We will conduct our next flat rolled steel market survey beginning on Monday. When in New York City earlier this week for the Steel Success Strategies meeting one of our Premium customers told me that the survey data was exceptional and we were the only place where that particular client could see something that drills down to the level of active buyers and sellers of steel – the real decision makers.
If you have opinions about our products (good or bad) please let us know.
Survey results should be posted on our website on Friday afternoon of next week.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
Brett Linton
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Final Thoughts
Now that the USS/Nippon deal has been completed, what's next?
Final Thoughts
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.