Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
April 12, 2017
First, a reminder that Friday is Good Friday and Sunday is Easter Sunday. Our office will be open for part of Good Friday since I have been traveling extensively and I have a need to catch up. Sunday is a holiday and we will not publish an issue on Sunday evening. The next time we will publish will be Tuesday, April 18th.
We will begin our next flat rolled steel market trends survey next Monday. If you would like to be added as a data provider please send me an email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
I saw an article from Joe Innace of Platts. He quoted a number of industry associations and steel executives (such as Dan DiMicco) who are extremely disappointed in the reversal Trump just made on China and currency manipulation. Looks like some of Trump’s core steel support may be getting anxious. Innace quoted DiMicco, “Yuan leaps against dollar after Trump’s currency back flip … Still undervalued by 40-50%. Spit in ocean,” tweeted Dan DiMicco, former Nucor CEO. Steel executives — and many others in the US manufacturing sector — contend China is manipulating its currency to artificially cut the prices of its exported goods. DiMicco, a Trump supporter and adviser on trade matters, later retweeted a comment from former congressman and current radio host Joe Walsh: “Yesterday, Trump changed his mind on: NATO, China, Yellen, Interest rates, Ex-Im Bank, The debt, His lobbying ban, The military. 1 day. Just sayin.”
If the steel people start leaving maybe the President does something to get their attention? Section 201 maybe?
Enjoy the long weekend (if you have one).
As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
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!