Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
March 1, 2019
First, a warm thank you to Tim Triplett, Sandy Williams and Brett Linton for filling in for me as I took a few days off to attend a Board of Trustees meeting in Minnesota (I left Florida to go to Minnesota?).
Since I have been out of pocket for the past four days, I will be brief with my final thoughts this evening.
We will begin our next flat rolled and plate steel market trends analysis on Monday morning. We will issue invitations at 8 a.m. ET and will collect responses through Thursday morning. If you receive an invitation, please take a few minutes to answer the first question at the bottom of the email, which will then take you to the rest of the questionnaire.
Happy anniversary to Section 232 tariffs. It was March 2018 when President Trump ordered the tariffs. We will look at the past year in a number of ways to see if the tariffs are hurting or helping manufacturing, distribution, steel mills and trading companies along with those associated with those segments of the industry. If you would like to share your observations and how 232 has been impacting your business, please send me an email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Both Tim Triplett and I will be at the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association annual meeting in Nashville on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.
Another busy week for SMU and the steel industry.
As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, President & CEO

John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts
A recurring theme in conversations with some of you and in the comments submitted in our surveys is concerns about demand and uncertainty around tariffs. Where does SMU’s latest opinion polling on President Trump’s tariffs stand? Let’s take a look at the numbers.

Final Thoughts
I’ve been getting some calls lately from some of you who want to kick around ideas on where prices might bottom and when.

Final Thoughts
Could an upcoming BRICS meeting spell trouble for President Trump's trade policy?

Final Thoughts
Another record-breaking SMU Steel Summit is in the books. Thanks to all of you – attendees, speakers, sponsors, and exhibitors – for making it possible it in what has been an uncertain year for steel.

Final Thoughts: Steel Summit 2025 has launched!
Steel Summit 2025 has just launched, and we're off to an amazing start.