Final Thoughts
Final Thougths
Written by John Packard
January 20, 2017
The Final Thoughts section is the area where I get to provide my opinions about what I am seeing and sensing in the market. I have been debating over the weekend whether or not now is the time to adjust our Price Momentum Indicator from Higher to Neutral. A Neutral reading would mean prices are in a state of fluctuation and could move in either direction over the next 30 days. However, I do not have any evidence of spot price erosion in cold rolled and coated products, only in hot rolled. If you have any information or thoughts on the subject please feel free to contact me.
I will be in Huntsville, Alabama over the next few days as we conduct our Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Marker Fundamentals workshop. I am looking forward to touring the Nucor Decatur steel mill as this will be my first time at the mill. The weather looks to be decent (for late January).
After Huntsville our next Steel 101 workshop will be in Toledo, Ohio where we will be touring the North Star Bluescope EAF steel facility. We had a workshop in their area last year but the mill had an issue with one of their furnaces that stopped us from touring their facility. So, I am looking forward to going to the North Star Bluescope mill. The dates of this workshop will be April 11 & 12, 2017.
We continue to work with a number of mills over the balance of this year and into 2018. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.
Brett will be with me in Huntsville assisting with our workshop. Diana and Alison will be covering our offices here in Florida and can be reached at 800-432-3475 or 772-932-7538.
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
Now that the USS/Nippon deal has been completed, what's next?
Final Thoughts
Getting back to the price increases I mentioned at the top of this article, to what extent are they aimed at raising prices and to what extent are they aimed at stopping the bleeding that was happening in the second half of May, before President Trump announced the 50% tariff?
Final Thoughts
We just wrapped another Steel 101 Workshop, where you take what you learned in the classroom into the steel mill.
Final Thoughts
Steel equities and steel futures fell hard after news broke earlier this week that the US and Mexico might reach an agreement that would result in the 50% Section 232 tariff coming off Mexican steel. The sharp declines didn’t make much sense, especially if, as some reports indicate, Mexico might agree to a fixed quota. They didn't make sense even if steel flows between the US and Mexico remain unchanged.
Final Thoughts
Even before the news about Mexico, I didn’t want to overstate the magnitude of the change in momentum. As far as we could tell, there hadn’t been a frenzy of new ordering following President Trump’s announcement of 50% Section 232 tariffs. But higher tariffs had unquestionably raised prices for imports, which typically provide the floor for domestic pricing. We’d heard, for example, that prices below $800 per short ton for hot-rolled (HR) coil were gone from the domestic market – even for larger buyers.