Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
June 24, 2016
We were a little surprised on Friday when the International Trade Commission (ITC) announced they had reached a unanimous decision on the CORE (corrosion resistant) trade case. This one is important because the first ITC ruling on cold rolled from Japan and China was a slam dunk. Neither country chose to defend themselves and basically gave in to the US Department of Commerce/ITC.
With the CORE case there were challenges by most of the named countries, yet all of the commissioners were able to use the new injury guidelines and find that the U.S. steel industry was indeed being injured by the foreign steel mills. We should expect similar results on the remaining cold rolled and hot rolled suits in the coming weeks.
From our Asian trading source: the most recent hot rolled sale out of China (late last week) was at $375 per metric ton, FOB ST, LSD with freight of $15/MT on CNF Liner Out basis ($340 per net ton). Billets as of Friday (alloy steel bars…) were being sold at $280 per metric ton, ST LSD out of China. CIS prices for billet on Friday was $300-$310/MT FOB Black Sea ports.
We are in the process of increasing our room block for the 2016 Steel Summit Conference. Registrations have been running significantly higher than last year. We intend to begin publishing what companies have registered by the end of this week. You can register on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com or through our office at 800-432-3475. If you would like us to send you an invoice please provide us the names and email addresses for those you wish to register and to whom the invoice is to be sent. Send the information to: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
Also note we have a couple of sponsorship opportunities left and a couple of exhibition spaces. You can find information on our website. If you have any questions please contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher

John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts: AMU brings the news
Usually, I write about steel in this column because, well, we’re Steel Market Update. But before I get to steel, I want to give a shoutout to my colleagues at Aluminum Market Update (AMU) – SMU’s new sister publication.

Final Thoughts
If I could change something, it’d be this: Political news would get more boring. And news about steel prices and steel demand would get a little more exciting.

Final Thoughts: Survey says edition
SMU’s latest survey results indicate that steel market participants think sheet prices are at or near a bottom. But most also think there is limited upside once they inflect higher.

Final Thoughts
A recent IIMA meeting in Brazil shows how the US and much of the rest of the world are operating in parallel realities.

Final Thoughts
We moved our pricing momentum indicators from “lower” to “neutral” for all sheet products this week. For those keeping score, we had been at “lower” for six weeks. And I know some of you think we should have been there for even longer.