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
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Final thoughts
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Final thoughts
SMU had the pleasure of attending the American Iron and Steel Institute's (AISI's) annual general meeting in Washington this week. It was a slow week in our nation's capital, so we were able to take a leisurely stroll around the National Mall and take in the sights. Just kidding. In fact, the meeting coincided with significant trade actions announced by the Biden administration. It included, among other things, additional tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum.
Final thoughts
Our spot price is little changed this week after moving sharply lower last week on the heels of Nucor’s unexpected price cut. Here’s one thought on that trend: Nucor's weekly HR price (aka, its “Consumer Spot Price” or CSP) has to date functioned almost more like a monthly price.
Final thoughts
What's the tea in the steel industry this week? Here's the latest SMU gossip column! Just kidding... kind of. Yes, some of the comments we receive in our weekly flat-rolled market steel buyers' survey are honestly too much to put into print. Some make us laugh. Some make us cringe. Some are cryptic. Most are serious. We appreciate them all. Below are some highlights from our survey results this week. Some of the comments that we can share with you are also included, in italics, in the buyers' own words, with minimal editing on our part.
Final thoughts
Last week we wrote about a brief lull in price movement, labeling it a period of wait and see. It did, in fact, turn out to be pretty brief. This week... things are little bit different. Perhaps right now we are more in a period of "hope and pray" or "Here we go, hold on to your hats."