Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
May 23, 2018
The SMU Steel Summit Conference is steaming toward 550 registrations as we forge ahead to our goal of 800 attendees. We have 234 individual companies registered as of this morning. We did not break through the 500+ registration mark last year until the end of July.
Some more interesting facts for those thinking of attending the conference: Of the 523 people registered (as of earlier today), 301 or 58 percent of them are not active SMU members.
Some 186 or 36 percent of the registrants have never been to an SMU Steel Summit before.
We are seeing more Presidents, CEO’s and other top executives attending than in past years. Companies are bringing more people (decision makers) to the conference.
Hotel room update for SMU Steel Summit Conference: Atlanta Airport Marriott Gateway – no rooms remaining in room block, rack rate only. Atlanta Airport Renaissance Gateway – 7 rooms remain in our room block, rack rate after they are gone. Atlanta Airport SpringHill Suites Gateway – 32 rooms remaining. Atlanta Airport Marriott (not in the convention center compound) – 100 rooms remaining (shuttle will ferry attendees from hotel to convention center and back).
SMU will not publish either our Executive or Premium newsletters on Sunday, May 27, due to Monday being a national holiday (Memorial Day). Have a wonderful weekend with your friends and family. If you are in southern Florida like I am…raindrops keep falling on my head (tropical storm developing in the Gulf of Mexico).
As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
Have a good Memorial Day Weekend.
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!