Final Thoughts

January 12, 2018

As expected, Wilbur Ross and the U.S. Department of Commerce submitted the Section 232 report on steel on Thursday evening. The much-anticipated report, originally “due” back in June 2017 (at President Trump’s request), beat the technical timeline by a couple of days. The White House did not release the recommendations reported and does not have to do so until the president makes his decision, which is due within 90 days from the delivery of the report.

Following up closely behind the steel report will be a separate Section 232 investigation report on aluminum. The aluminum report is due in about a week’s time.

The uncertainty surrounding these reports will continue for some time to come based on similar reports that have been held close to the vest on other subjects.

There are many factions working both for and against taking radical action against foreign steel suppliers for national security reasons. We do not know who will be the last person to have President Trump’s ear prior to the announcement being made.

There is an article in tonight’s issue about plate and plate price increases. The article is based on discussions first from one of the plate steel mills questioning a comment that was made (and we found they were correct, the comment should have attributed the production month as February instead of March). We are open to discussing pricing and anything else in our newsletter as it is important that we present as fair an assessment of the market as possible.

If you have questions, comments or suggestions, you can reach me at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com or on my office phone which is 800-432-3475.

As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.

John Packard, Publisher