Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
July 7, 2017
The question steel buyers are going to be asking themselves as this week begins is, will the Trump administration finally announce their findings on Section 232 and will this announcement allow President Trump to move on the duties or quotas expected by the domestic steel mills and many steel buyers?
The question I am asking myself is, what effect will the conversations and decisions made during the G20 meeting have on the Trump administration? Will the president wait and give the G20 the time for the G20 sherpas to file their report at the end of August? Will the president have the patience to let the world’s leaders address the issue or will he try to show them he is serious about addressing the over-capacities in steel?
Either way, I expect this to be another week where it will be hard to get a firm grip on the direction of supply and pricing. Any lack of transparency results in hand-sitting on the part of many steel buyers.
A reminder that we have released our next Steel 101 workshop for those who may be interested in joining us in Ft. Wayne, Indiana in early October. The weather should be wonderful and cool enough to make the tour of the SDI Butler steel mill a real treat. You can learn more about our program, instructors, lodging and meeting space as well as costs to attend on our website. Go to: www.SteelMarketUdpate.com/events/steel101
With Section 232 hanging over our heads this week should be yet another interesting one for the industry. Stay tuned to see what is going to happen next.
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
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!