Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
August 5, 2015
We released our Steel Summit Conference App this morning to all of our attendees. Almost immediately I got my first comment from the president of a manufacturing company who downloaded the App. “John, the app is excellent. Clean look and easy to navigate. Looking forward to seeing you next month.”
The comment was made on our “Activity Feed” which means it is visible to everyone who has downloaded the App and has a login and password (which only need to be used once, after that the App will recognize you and your mobile device).
By the way, the App looks sharp on the screen of your mobile device. I have copied a photo of the logo which is to the left. Not shown is under the logo it says “SMU Events.”
Ray Culley wrote an article about the App which is published in tonight’s newsletter (above). Even if you are not attending our Steel Summit Conference read the article and become better acquainted with our App as we will be using it in other conferences in the future.
I also want to point out that our next Steel 101 workshop is open for registration. The workshop will be in Davenport, Iowa (about 2-3 hours west of Chicago) and will include a tour of the SSAB mini-mill. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Details can be found on our website.
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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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.
Final Thoughts
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.