Final Thoughts
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Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
October 25, 2017
We are three months away from our Mobile, Ala., Steel 101 workshop and we are sold out. Having said that, I would recommend that if you want to attend, add your name to our wait-list. You can do that on our website by clicking on the registration link; after you are advised that the workshop is sold out it will offer you the opportunity to add your name to the list. SSAB advised that they may not use all of their spots and, if they don’t, we will be able to add one or two more people.
We are in the process of moving the Steel 101 workshop that is scheduled to follow Mobile up in the calendar. We are working with NLMK USA and their Portage, Ind., facility for a March 2017 workshop. As 2018 progresses, we plan on holding workshops during the months of May, July/August and October. Stay tuned for exact dates and for the mills we will be working with.
Some of our readers were “disappointed” with comments made by Cleveland Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves, who spoke negatively about service centers (Goncalves is the former CEO of the Metals USA service center group) along with his comments about North Korean steel. Someone sent us a note pointing out the North Koreans had only exported $350,000 of iron and steel products to the entire world from October 2016 through May 2017. In comparison, the Chinese exported $60 billion worth of iron and steel products during calendar year 2016. Steel Market Update will look into this issue further in a coming edition.
I know companies are making out their budgets for 2018 right about now. Don’t forget to budget monies to attend our 2018 SMU Steel Summit Conference, which will be held at the Georgia International Convention Center on Aug. 27-29.
We have begun to send out sponsorship and exhibitor brochures for the 2018 conference. We recommend claiming your spot early as we expect to sell out the limited number of sponsorship and exhibition spaces we have available. If you need any more information or would like a brochure, please send an email to info@SteelMarketUpdate.com and we will get you all the information you need.
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).
![](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!