Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

Written by John Packard


A quick reminder that our next Steel 101 workshop which will be held just outside of Toledo, Ohio on May 17-18th of this year, is about half full. We already have an excellent group of manufacturing companies, service centers and steel mills attending. On the afternoon of the first day we will tour the North Star Bluescope steel mill and that evening North Star Bluescope along with Steel Market Update is sponsoring our networking cocktail party and dinner at an excellent restaurant named Treo. More information and registration can be found on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com. If you have any questions please send them to: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or contact our offices at 800-432-3475.

I also want to thank those of you who have already made reservations for our 6th Steel Summit Conference which will be held on August 29-31, 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia. For the third time we will host our conference at the Georgia International Convention Center which is located adjacent to the Atlanta International Airport. No need for expensive cabs rides or car rental. From the airport you just take the SkyTrain directly to the Marriott Gateway Hotel and the GICC (1st Stop). Allow for 5 minutes (and zero dollars) from the airport to the convention center and hotel. Details about our program and confirmed speakers to date, as well as the company’s who attended last year are on our website.

A special thanks to the sponsors who have already signed up for this year: Pacesetter Steel, Big River Steel, Steel Dynamics, Alliance Steel, Kenwal and Magic Coil Products. We still have a few remaining sponsorship spots available and details can be found on our website or contact our office: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com.

Thank you again for your business as it is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.

John Packard, Publisher

Latest in Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

As Wolfe Research’s Timna Tanner put it in her opening talk at Tampa on Monday afternoon, we’re living in a world of “Trumplications” now. That probably means – at least in the short term – higher scrap costs, lower imports from countries hit with or threated tariffs, and higher steel prices. SMU data reflects that. Scrap went up in January. More than 75% of the respondents to our more recent survey expect scrap to go up again February, maybe by a lot. Lead times, meanwhile, have been ticking upward this month. It started with hot-rolled coil and plate earlier this month. Now we’re seeing coated lead times extending too.