Final Thoughts

September 10, 2018

I am in Middletown, Ohio, having spent the day at AK Steel’s Research and Innovation Center as part of our new Steel 201 training workshop. The facility is impressive both in physical beauty as well as the operations and people working there. Our class is being held in an auditorium that seats about 70 people theatre style. We had great presentations today from both SMU and AK Steel instructors. I personally have learned quite a bit about advanced high strength steels (AHSS) with more to come tomorrow.

I will be back in the office on Thursday.

We need to watch the negotiations between the USW and U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal USA. The U.S. Steel union workers have made it clear that the windfall that is being dumped on the mill right now due to Section 232 tariffs needs to be shared with the union. The USS union workers have almost unanimously voted to authorize a strike, and I believe the union is working on a 48-hour window.

Obviously, should the union strike U.S. Steel, there would be a major disruption within the industry. Another black swan event in a long list of events during this calendar year.

Let’s not forget the hurricane heading for the Carolinas and potentially Nucor Berkeley. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the people in the Carolinas. Let’s hope the hurricane loses some steam before landfall.

Tomorrow morning our Steel 201 workshop will be touring the AK Steel Middletown steel mill. We are looking forward to the tour and spending a little more time with AK Steel executives as we discuss the process of taking an idea through to a new part potentially using new steels.

As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us at Steel Market Update.

John Packard, President & CEO