Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
November 10, 2017
We will begin conducting our mid-November flat rolled steel market survey on Monday. If you receive an invitation to participate, please take a few moments to click on the button in the message, which will take you to our questionnaire. The questionnaire shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to complete. If you would like to be invited to participate in one of our surveys, please send an email message to John@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
We are opening up advertising opportunities for the 2018 newsletters. All of the banner ads were sold prior to the beginning of 2017 and we expect the same will be true for 2018. If your company has an interest in advertising in our newsletters or on our website (or both), please contact Brett Linton at Brett@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
Registration is available for the March 2018 Steel 101 workshop, which will be held in Merrillville, Ind. (just outside of Chicago). We will tour the NLMK USA Portage steel mill. Details can be found on our website. The January 2018 workshop, which will be in Mobile, Ala., is sold out.
As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher

John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts
Cliffs came tantalizing close to buying U.S. Steel in 2023. There were rumors in 2024 that Cliffs might buy NLMK USA before it ultimately purchased Stelco for $2.5 billion in November of last year. Who would have thought that asset sales would have been the focal point of discussion just six months later?

Final Thoughts
Given the news about tariffs and bringing back industries to the US, a brief look back in time may show how our economy changes with technological advances and the shifting economies of scale.

Final Thoughts
We’ve talked about tariffs ad nauseam for much of the year. And I’m afraid this topic isn’t going away anytime soon. There’s a feeling that the tariff “can” will just be kicked down the road again and again, and again.

Final Thoughts
Can technology help with pig iron and DRI/HBI tariffs?

Final Thoughts
Tariff-related noise aside, there is one basic factor keeping buyers on the sidelines. Despite recent declines, HR prices remain at historically high levels. And there is no obvious support to keep them there.