Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
January 13, 2017
A special thank you to the companies who have stepped up early to be sponsors at this year’s Steel Summit Conference: Our Conference Sponsor – Pacesetter as well as our two Corporate Sponsors – Bank of America and Mill Steel. We also have one break sponsor at the moment – Kenwal and we have two coffee sponsors – Magic Coil Products and Alliance Steel.
We do have sponsorship and exhibition space available on a first come, first served basis. Please contact either Ray Culley (Ray.Culley@SteelMarketUpdate.com) or myself at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com if you have an interest in becoming a sponsor or exhibitor at this year’s event in Atlanta at the end of August. Details about sponsorship/exhibition space and about the conference are available on our website. I will be traveling over the next 10 days. I am available by email or on my cell phone: 770-596-6268. If you have a short-term need, question about the website, would like to pay an invoice or become a new customer you can do so through Brett Linton at 706-216-2140 or Brett@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
On the 24th and 25th SMU will conduct our next Steel 101 workshop in Huntsville, Alabama. As part of the workshop we will tour the Nucor Decatur steel mill. I know our team is looking forward to visiting Decatur and interacting with the Nucor team.
We are working on the exact date of the Steel 101 workshop to follow the Huntsville dates. We do know we will be working with North Star BlueScope in Ohio. I am hopeful that we will have the dates ironed out over the next few days (late March-early May time frame).
This will be another busy week in the steel industry. MSCI data is due out this week. We will participate in our monthly galvanized steel conference call with the HARDI wholesalers. Donald Trump will be sworn in as the new President of the United States on Friday. We are also conducting our flat rolled steel market trends analysis beginning on Monday morning at 7:30 AM ET. If you receive an invitation please take a moment to click on the button and provide us your thoughts about the market.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
John Packard
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Final thoughts
Sometimes even in a bit of chaos there is complacency. And it seems that since March 2020, “a bit of chaos” has been the order of the day. That means in the world at large, and in steel specifically.
Final thoughts
SMU had the pleasure of attending the American Iron and Steel Institute's (AISI's) annual general meeting in Washington this week. It was a slow week in our nation's capital, so we were able to take a leisurely stroll around the National Mall and take in the sights. Just kidding. In fact, the meeting coincided with significant trade actions announced by the Biden administration. It included, among other things, additional tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum.
Final thoughts
Our spot price is little changed this week after moving sharply lower last week on the heels of Nucor’s unexpected price cut. Here’s one thought on that trend: Nucor's weekly HR price (aka, its “Consumer Spot Price” or CSP) has to date functioned almost more like a monthly price.
Final thoughts
What's the tea in the steel industry this week? Here's the latest SMU gossip column! Just kidding... kind of. Yes, some of the comments we receive in our weekly flat-rolled market steel buyers' survey are honestly too much to put into print. Some make us laugh. Some make us cringe. Some are cryptic. Most are serious. We appreciate them all. Below are some highlights from our survey results this week. Some of the comments that we can share with you are also included, in italics, in the buyers' own words, with minimal editing on our part.
Final thoughts
Last week we wrote about a brief lull in price movement, labeling it a period of wait and see. It did, in fact, turn out to be pretty brief. This week... things are little bit different. Perhaps right now we are more in a period of "hope and pray" or "Here we go, hold on to your hats."