Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
March 29, 2019
I am going to be in the office for the next couple of weeks. My next trip is not until the 15th of April. We have quite a bit going on with a new flat rolled and plate steel market trends analysis (survey) starting first thing Monday morning. If you receive an invitation, please take a few moments to answer the first question at the bottom, which will then take you to the rest of the questionnaire. Brett told me the average time to respond to our questions is three minutes.
We will also begin the process of reviewing flat rolled and plate steel inventories on service center floors as of the end of March. At the end of February, we found inventories to be at 2.4 months of supply on sheet products. The information we are collecting is only being shared with the distributors who participate in our analysis. If you would like to learn more about the process and what information we are collecting, please contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
Update on sponsorships and exhibition spaces available for the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference: We have one sponsorship spot available and four exhibition spaces. The sponsorship available is the break sponsor for Monday afternoon. Please contact Jill Waldman at Jill@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by phone at 303-570-6570 for more details.
A reminder that our next Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop will be held in Davenport, Iowa, on May 14-15, 2019. This workshop will tour the SSAB steel mill. SMU has held dozens of workshops across the country and we have trained many hundreds of individuals associated with manufacturing, steel distribution, steel mills, trading companies, financial institutions and analysts, trucking and railroads as well as other suppliers to the steel industry. This two-day workshop is well suited for the newest of your employees as well as those who have been with the company for some time and are well-regarded as having the potential to move up within your organization. We even have had presidents and CEOs of companies attend for a refresher or to evaluate our program. The Steel 101 workshop helps provide the basics about the steelmaking and rolling process, how qualities of steel are produced and how commodities and market factors affect steel prices. You can learn more about the workshop agenda, instructors (all of whom are experienced steel professionals), hotel information, the costs to attend and how to register by going to: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel101
I want our existing members to understand that we have changed our pricing and there is a significant advantage being given to companies who would like their employees to receive our newsletter. We have unlimited programs on both Executive and Premium level subscriptions. If you would like more information, please contact Paige Mayhair at 724-720-1012 or by email at Paige@SteelMarketUpdate.com
As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, President & CEO
John Packard
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I sort of expected big news last Friday and over the long, Memorial Day weekend. Because that's become more the norm than the exception for steel this year. Sure enough, Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday afternoon that he had given his blessing to a “partnership” between Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel. And then over the weekend we had market moving new on tariffs, this time involving the EU.