Final Thoughts

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

John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts
We joked in our last Final Thoughts that Wiley trade attorney Tim Brightbill – one of the nation’s leading experts on trade law and policy – would probably be revising his presentation on Trump, trade policy, and tariffs for the Tampa Steel Conference. He did. And even after those last-minute revisions, he actually got trumped […]

Final Thoughts
The whole SMU team is packing up our laptops and our SMU polos/cardigans, loading up the PowerPoint slides, and preparing to make the trek down to Florida for the Tampa Steel Conference. There will be plenty to talk about!

Final Thoughts
From one group of folks, I’ve heard that Trump might not wait until Feb. 1 – the date he threatened on to place tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico. They say he could act as soon as Friday. And then there are those who don’t think anything will happen before April 1. That’s the deadline for Commerce, Treasury, and USTR to submit key reports on “America First Trade Policy” to President Trump.

Final Thoughts
Trump made a clarification in a speech on Monday. Previously, he had declared the word “tariff” the most beautiful word in the dictionary. No longer.

Final Thoughts
President Donald Trump on Sunday hammered Colombia with 25% tariffs and threatened to increase them to 50%. Trump in a post on Truth Social said he took the action not because of a trade dispute but because the South American nation had refused to accept planes carrying deported immigrants. The president also cited "national security" concerns, just as he did to justify 25% Section 232 tariffs on steel in his first term. Even the 50% threat echoes his first term. Turkish steel, like that of most nations, was assessed a 25% tariff in March 2018. Trump doubled Turkey's tariff to 50% via a tweet in August of that year over a matter unrelated to steel.