Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
July 24, 2017
Wilbur Ross will be on Capital Hill again this week as he advises the House Ways and Means Committee on the status of his Section 232 investigation. It seems like the longer the market waits for an announcement (or at least the recommendations from the Department of Commerce) the less enthusiastic people are that anything will happen. There appears to be a surge of opinions against any across the board tariffs or quotas and Trump appears to be listening. If he doesn’t do anything and lets the steel industry sway in the breeze who knows what will happen.
I had a great conversation with Jack Bellissimo of Hubbell, Inc., Gaurav Chhibbar who just changed jobs at Cargill (now is a freight trader) and Justin Philipp of Pacesetter late last week. These three gentlemen are all right around 30 years old and can speak to the subject of attracting, hiring, training and maintaining young workers in your business. I think you will be very pleased with their program which is scheduled to begin at 2 PM on Wednesday, August 30th. The program will conclude at 3 PM and you will have plenty of time to make your 4:30 PM or later flight out of Atlanta.
Registrations continue to come in with Morrison Products, Kingspan, Galvasid, Interstate Steel, ITW, Steel & Pipe Supply, Worthington Industries, Precoat Metals and Big River Steel pushing our registrations beyond 534 executives which means this SMU Steel Summit Conference will be the best attended conference in our history by more than 100 people. If you would like to add your name to the list you can do so by clicking here or by contacting our offices at 772-932-7538 or 706-216-2140. You are also welcome to contact me directly at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com. By the way we have attendees coming from Poland, Egypt, Ecuador, Mexico, Canada, United Kingdom and from coast to coast in the United States.
I also want to remind everyone that our next Steel 101 workshop will be held in Ft. Wayne, Indiana and will include a tour of the Steel Dynamics (SDI) Butler mini-mill. Details can be found on our website. If you have any questions about our Steel 101 workshop please contact me at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com
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."