Final Thoughts
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Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
September 21, 2015
Demand (or the lack thereof) seems to be the real culprit affecting the steel market and prices at this moment. I spoke with one of the larger service centers this afternoon and asked: would imports be reduced enough to impact U.S. supply and trigger a price spike? I asked what were the chances that the market would turn in 2016 and steel all of a sudden get tight?
The response I got was, “15% chance. Soft demand and over supply domestically – not to mention the international market will keep pressure on the market. Small pockets of volatility can be expected.” They went on to say, “If oil doesn’t come back – what drives demand?”
For those of you who attended our Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta at the beginning of September,Timna Tanners of Bank of America Merrill Lynch Research adjusted her hot rolled coil prognostication for 2016. Her new numbers are: 1Q 2016 HRC = $505 per ton, 2Q 2016 = $510 per ton, 3Q 2016 = $525 per ton and 4Q 2016 = $500 per ton. Average for the year = $510 per ton.
I will keep my comments short tonight.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
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John Packard
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Final thoughts
SMU has heard from some larger buyers who have stepped back into the market to buy at prices that, if not at a bottom, they assess to be close to one. Is it enough to stretch out lead times and send prices upward again? Or do we continue to scrape along the mid-$600s per short ton (st) as we have been doing for most of the last month?
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Final thoughts
Cleveland-Cliffs Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves had some insightful things to say today about the steel market and about a conference we suspect might be Steel Summit.
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Final thoughts
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, when you add in some commentary from respected peers in the steel industry to those pictures, that may shoot you up to five thousand words, at least. In that spirit, we’ve added some snapshots from our market survey this week, along with some comments from market participants.
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Final thoughts
I thought we’d have more clarity this week on Section 232, Mexico, and a potential carve-out for steel melted and poured in Brazil. As of right now, the only official comment I have is from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).
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Final thoughts
There are just 40 days left until the 2024 SMU Steel Summit gets underway on Aug. 26 at the Georgia International Convention Center (GICC) in Atlanta. And I’m pleased to announce that it's official now: More than 1,000 people have registered to at attend! Another big development: The desktop version of the networking app for the event has officially launched!