Final Thoughts
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Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
September 22, 2017
A note that SMU adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator to Lower from Neutral on Friday. I have explained 10 of the reasons why (and there are more) in the first article in tonight’s newsletter. If you would like to make comments, feel free to reach out to me at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
I will be working on foreign steel offers early this week as there have been a number of comments from both buyers and sellers of steel about the high prices associated with foreign right now. I will be working on trying to explain what that means and what it might mean for domestic steel prices in the months ahead. The market has been waiting for a correction of foreign steel imports, but it has not happened despite antidumping and countervailing duties. It has not happened due to the threat of Section 232 (in fact, I believe the Section 232 investigation has worked against the domestic steel mills). Logic says if foreign prices are higher than domestic, that should create an environment that favors domestic steel mills. The question is, exactly when?
Because one of the other things I have been hearing is from the OEMs who have gone out and protected themselves, buying extra inventory and/or taking advantage of their domestic contracts. Will the domestic mills be able to raise prices should there be less first-quarter demand than normal?
If you have opinions on these subjects, please contact me at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com or 800-432-3475.
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.
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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.
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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).
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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!