Final Thoughts

When I take a position in this segment of the newsletter (Final Thoughts), it is my personal opinion and does not necessarily represent the CRU Group (our parent company).

Part of the way I conduct the day-to-day operations of Steel Market Update is to try to develop interaction between myself and those who work for and with SMU. I also am very receptive to getting questions, comments and suggestions from our members (our subscribers are called members), those taking a trial and those from the greater steel community. Many of the articles written in our newsletter begin as a question, comment or suggestion from someone associated with the North American steel markets. If you would like to reach out to me, you can do so by emailing me at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by phone at 800-432-3475.

I have just returned from a sold-out Steel 101 workshop that was held in Starkville, Miss., where we toured the SDI Columbus steel mill. The group was diverse with about half of the class being women. I thought our instructors Mario Briccetti, Chuck McDaniel and Roger Walburn did a great job explaining the steelmaking process, pre-paint process, qualities of steel and how they are made and more. I filled in to discuss the current market situation, what “stick” means when it comes to prices, as well as AD/CVD, Section 232 and Section 301.

I got the following comments about this week’s workshop from one of the attendees: “I found the workshop very informative and the content and expertise you delivered was top-notch. I will use the strategies presented and bring back many of those ideas to help guide our Business Intelligence and Big Data initiatives. All your presenters were outstanding and true experts in their respective fields. An exceptional workshop.” Mike O’Neil, Corporate Purchasing Manager, Edw. C. Levy Co.

I will advise the exact date and location of the next Steel 101 in the coming days.

I continue to work on the 2019 edition of the SMU Steel Summit Conference. Most of the work right now is dedicated to fine-tuning the program and attracting the absolute best speakers for the topics we want to cover. We will have a number of steel mill CEO’s this year, as well as a strong service center panel – something we have not done for a couple of years. Registration is open for the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We hope to have our agenda out on the website by the end of next week.

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

John Packard, President & CEO