Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
October 5, 2015
I, Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush and a number of steel people are all in Davenport, Iowa enjoying the warmer than normal weather and great conditions to do a mill tour which is exactly what we did this afternoon (without Hillary and Jeb). I want to thank everyone at SSAB for their hospitality and for doing an exceptional job of highlighting their production capabilities.
We have a very interesting group attending this workshop – a lot of relatively new people in high management levels to inside customer support. This has created an atmosphere where we can discuss many topics that you wouldn’t normally see or hear during this kind of workshop. We like to build flexibility into our programs so we can discuss the topics that are of interest to our attendees.
A reminder to those who are on our survey invite list. If you have not taken the time to respond to our invite we will be collecting responses until Thursday afternoon. We will send out a reminder email on Wednesday which will have a link to SurveyMonkey.com where our questionnaire is hosted.
Why is it whenever I go away to a workshop major events happen – US Steel decides to pick to day to tell their employees Granite City may be idled for awhile and the UAW thought today would be a great day to tell Chrysler (FCA) that Wednesday sounded like a good day to go on strike. Shouldn’t the membership bitch at their leadership rather than going on strike? After all, they did negotiate a deal that the membership didn’t like. So, go back to the table and figure it out (or work on the membership so the next time you can get the votes needed).
I know automotive is doing well right now and has been for a few years – but, it won’t last forever.
If Chrysler goes on strike does this open the door to US Steel and/or ArcelorMittal to lock out their workers? I would love to get your opinions on that one. Send them to: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
Also, Cliffs Natural Resources announced that they were ended an iron ore supply agreement with Essar Steel Algoma saying the company is in breach of contract. Cliffs had a 3 million long ton per year contract with Essar Steel Algoma.
It’s been a long day. As always we thank you for your business as it is truly appreciated by all of us at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
We're going to have to wait a bit longer for the final outcome of the Nippon/USS deal.
Final Thoughts
Sure, demand isn’t as good the market had hoped it would be earlier this year. But assuming it doesn’t fall of a cliff, buyers will have to restock at some point. And that might give domestic mills enough leverage to raise prices again.
Final Thoughts
While I would anticipate market sentiment to pivot and improve if all the questions around tariffs were answered, that still leaves us with a few other factors.
Final Thoughts
Let's see what SMU survey respondents are saying about Trump's tariffs.
Final Thoughts
The Tariff Town amusement park ride shows no signs of slowing down.