Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
March 28, 2018
I don’t know how to keep up with the changing winds associated with President Trump when it comes to trade, trade negotiations and the Section 232 tariffs (or threats of tariffs). According to Bloomberg, Trump said that he may delay the revamped trade agreement reached with South Korea that includes a quota and permanent exclusion on exports of steel into the United States. Bloomberg quoted Trump: “I may hold it up until after a deal is made with North Korea. You know why? Because it’s a very strong card, and I want to make sure everyone is treated fairly and we’re moving along very nicely with North Korea.”
It has been a hectic week here in Chicago. We had an exceptional group for one of our Steel 101 workshops, and I want to thank NLMK USA for hosting us at their Portage steel facility and assisting us in hosting last night’s networking and dinner for our group.
It has been a long day and week, so I am going to cut it short this evening. Have a wonderful Good Friday.
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
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?
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.
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.
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).
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!