Final Thoughts
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Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
September 20, 2017
Zinc is once again trading above $1.40 per pound ($1.42 as of 3:30 PM ET) and the smaller steel mills and converters are wondering why U.S. Steel, ArcelorMittal USA and Nucor haven’t made the move to higher zinc coating extras on galvanized steel? We have seen four mills make changes on their “spot” new orders: NLMK USA, USS/POSCO, California Steel and AK Steel. Mills like Wheeling/Nishin (who tends to follow U.S. Steel), CSN (Terre Haute, IN) and Ternium are sitting back and waiting.
Although one of the mills told us that since coated transaction prices are not able to be increased in the current market, the net effect of the higher zinc cost is a squeeze on margin.
In the meantime, at least one of the indexes tied to contract pricing has made the decision to move .060” G90 coating extra from $78 per ton to $86 per ton. SMU has not yet made the move, and we will continue to keep our extras the same as long as USS, AM and Nucor hold out.
This doesn’t mean galvanized buyers should not be aware of changes or potential changes, and those of you involved in negotiating 2018 contracts for coated steels should be aware that extras may come up in the discussions with your mill suppliers (or service centers if they have to pass new extras through to their customers).
We continue to add more flat rolled steel service centers and wholesalers to our new distributor index (months of supply of inventories). If interested, please contact me at: 800-432-3475 or email John@SteelMarketUpdate.com and I can provide information about what we are looking for and how you can contribute.
We will not be publishing or identifying any participating service centers. Data providers will be kept confidential, as will the information shared with SMU.
For those interested, we are working on two reports. We will have a “Flash” report that will come out just a few days after the end of a month. The “Flash” report will be based on data from a limited number of trusted distributors (my target is 10 companies). Then a little later in the month (goal is around the 10th of the month) we will produce our months on hand report. This will be adjusted to days of supply on hand in a relatively short period of time.
Data providers, both “Flash” and regular, will receive the results of the data anywhere from one to three days before it is presented to our subscribers.
We are working on a number of events for 2018. Our next Steel 101 workshop will be in the Mobile, Ala., area and we will be touring the SSAB Alabama minimill. We are looking to get final hotel confirmations, and we are aiming for the week of Jan. 22, 2018.
We will be working with NLMK USA and their Portage, Ind., operation for a little later in the year (probably late April/early May). We will have more on that Steel 101 workshop after we conclude negotiations with the hotels for Alabama.
With the success of this year’s SMU Steel Summit Conference, we are in negotiations with the Georgia International Convention Center (GICC) to expand our footprint inside the convention hall. The dates for the 2018 Steel Summit are Aug. 27-29. We have already blocked rooms at the Marriott Gateway, Renaissance Gateway and SpringHill Suites Gateway hotels. We are working with Marriott and potentially some other hotels to ensure there will be ample rooms. We expect 750 steel and manufacturing executives at the 2018 event.
If you are interested in becoming a sponsor or exhibitor for the 2018 event, we are already taking names (and we already have commitments from many of our existing sponsors). We will announce the sponsorships still available within the next few weeks. If you are interested, let Ray.Culley@SteelMarketUpdate and John@SteelMarketUpdate.com know so you can be contacted as soon as we go out with our new sponsorship/exhibitor brochure.
If you have recommendations on potential subjects or speakers that you think we should cover for 2018, we are all ears. We want to hear from you, and we appreciate the suggestions. Our goal is to never reproduce the same conference that we did the year before.
Happy New Year (Rosh Hashanah) to our Jewish friends.
As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
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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?
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/images/Featured_News_Icons/gears.png)
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.
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/images/Featured_News_Icons/gears.png)
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.
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/images/Featured_News_Icons/gears.png)
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).
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/11/SMU-Steel-Summit.png)
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!