Final Thoughts
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Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
March 2, 2018
Oscar Night, so I will keep my comments short and sweet…maybe.
I was told by one of our readers over the weekend that it would cost U.S. Steel $100 million to re-start Granite City. They wanted to know if that was correct? I did some checking with a number of analysts and was told that Granite City would cost about $10-$15 million dollars and take about 12 weeks to come back up. I do not have information on AK Steel, but my expectation is Ashland would cost $5-$15 million to bring back to life. We are checking with USS and AK Steel to see what plans they have to bring the steelmaking operations and whatever rolling facilities that are not running now back to life. We will report back.
I will be traveling to Scottsdale, Ariz., for the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association (FMA) annual meeting. I will be on a panel with Ladd Hall of Nucor and Don McNeeley of Chicago Tube and Iron. Something tells me the audience is going to want to talk about Section 232… I will be prepared to do so. If you are going to be in Scottsdale and would like to sit and chat, please shoot me an email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
We will begin our early March flat rolled steel market analysis (survey) on Monday morning. If invited, please take a few minutes to participate.
I am also working on service center inventories and collecting data from our steel and plate service center data providers. Please send me your information ASAP as we will publish our “Flash” report on Tuesday and try to have the full report done by the end of the week, if possible. If you would like to add your company to the list of providers (which is totally confidential), please contact me at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
Registrations for our 8th SMU Steel Summit Conference are running 30 percent ahead of last year’s pace. You will begin to see almost daily announcements of speakers and programs as we roll out our final agenda. This will be the largest steel conference in North America during 2018 and it will be our best. There is much to cover during the conference. But, we haven’t forgotten that many of you come because the conference is full of decision-makers in manufacturing, steel distribution, steel production (mills), trading companies, toll processors and suppliers to the industry. We encourage interaction through our Conference App, as well as one-on-one during the conference. Please note that all three days will be held inside the Georgia Internatioanal Convention Center this year as we have outgrown the Marriott Hotel. There will be two networking cocktail parties in the GICC – one hosted by Steel Dynamics and the second by Heidtman Steel. WiFi is once again free, compliments of our Conference Partner – Pacesetter. Go to www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/events/steel-summit to register and to learn more about the conference.
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).
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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!