Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
October 23, 2015
The difference between auto industry and steel industry: the UAW has issue a notice to GM that they could walk out at midnight tonight (Sunday) if they don’t have a contract. The USW is content to work under the old contract for as long as they can get away with it since both US Steel and ArcelorMittal are trying to gain concessions. Automotive companies know now is not the time to shut down profitable businesses. Steel mills haven’t quite figured out what they need to do to survive until the next up pricing cycle. The USW and US Steel go back to the negotiation table this week.
We are asked quite often what the difference is between our Executive or regular newsletter and website access versus that of our Premium level members. We produced a number of Premium supplemental issues last week covering such topics as: Global Steel Production & Capacity Utilization for September, US Vehicle Sales & NAFTA Vehicle Production for September, a special analysis of Service Center Intake, Shipments & Inventory for September (including long products & plate), Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization where our analysis showed a slowing manufacturing sector (although growth is still positive).
Last week we also produced our Imports by Product, Port of Entry and Country which allows our Premium members to see what countries are penetrating their local markets and what changes are happening to the trend for each country.
We also produced our Flat Rolled Steel Market Analysis (survey) Power Point presentation. We produce this special analysis twice per month and our presentations get rave reviews from both the financial community as well as the general steel community. For those of you on an Executive level membership you can see an example of what one of our Power Point presentations looks like by clicking on this link (or going to our Analysis tab and selecting Full Survey Results Sample from the menu in the drop down screen.
If you are interested in learning more about Premium services please contact me in my office: 800-432-3475 or by email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
A reminder that our next Steel 101 workshop will be held in Starkville, Mississippi (Columbus, MS area) on January 19-20, 2016. This workshop will include a tour of the SDI Columbus steel mills. Details are on our website or you can click on this link.
Thank you again for your business which is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
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?
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.
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.
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).
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!