Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
February 3, 2017
It is Super Bowl Sunday so I am going to keep this as short as possible. Everyone needs to remember that I lived in Atlanta for 34 years, having just moved permanently to Florida a little more than a year ago. Let’s hope for a good game and great commercials… Go Falcons!
As you know Ray Culley and I are working feverishly on the 2017 version of the SMU Steel Summit Conference. We are scouring the country for the best subject matter to broach as well as the best speakers. We invited Dan DiMicco to represent the Trump administration but we learned over the weekend that he will not be able to join us this year. We will continue to burn the midnight oil looking for the best way to address the new elephant in the room…politics and steel go hand and hand.
We want to do a section on the manufacturing view of the industry. I am looking for a few company CEO’s or VP’s that are able to discuss trade issues, manufacturing issues and to forecast the markets that they serve. If your company is interested, please contact me at: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com or 800-432-3475. I will most likely run this as a question-answer panel and not as formal presentations as we want to get the most out of the program. We are all ears and willing to discuss options and opportunities. If you know someone at your company or elsewhere that is an excellent communicator, please send me their details and we will take it from there.
I always listen to our past attendees and take their suggestions into consideration. If there is a subject that you think needs to be broached please let me know. Again, I am all ears.
Registration for the 7th SMU Steel Summit Conference is open and available online or you can contact Diana/Alison in our office for invoices or to register direct through our office. Their number is 772-932=7538.
We also have another Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop coming up in Ohio in April. On April 11-12, 2017 we will conduct our workshop at the Radisson Hotel at the University of Toledo. We will also tour the North Star BlueScope steel mill as part of our workshop. Details and registration are on our website or you can contact our office at 772-932-7538 for more information, request an invoice, etc.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
Post Script: OUCH! As I told my son who was texting me during the football game no matter how far in front you are the game is not over until the last second has ticked off the clock. Congratulations to New England as they were the better team for the entire 60 minutes (and, of course, overtime).
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!