Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
April 29, 2019
Another exciting week in the steel industry…
A couple of reminders:
With four months yet to go we are marching toward 400 registered executives for the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference, which will be held in Atlanta on Aug. 26-28. This is THE premier networking event for the steel industry during the calendar year. Here are just a few of the registrations we have received this week (the * means more than one person from that company is registered): NLMK USA*, Nucor*, Precoat Metals, Scrap Metal Services*, Valmont, Priefert Manufacturing*, State Steel Supply* and Kloeckner Metals. You can register for your spot by clicking on this link or going to: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel-Summit
With two weeks to go we still have a few seats available for the SMU Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop, which will be held in Davenport, Iowa, on the 14th and 15th of May. The workshop will include a tour of the SSAB steel mill. For details go to: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel101
Next week is the Metals Industry Boy Scout Dinner at the Hyatt in Chicago. I highly recommend attending this dinner as it is probably the second-best networking event behind our conference (in my humble opinion). You can find more information on their website, which I have linked to here.
On June 17, the CRU Group will host a Steel Briefing in New York City. Lewis Leibowitz and I will be opening the conference. We will be discussing how trade is impacting the steel industry. This is a free event and you can register by clicking on this link.
I am here in my office for the balance of this week and will begin traveling again next Wednesday as I head off for Chicago.
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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Final Thoughts
A short tour of key dates in the Nippon/USS deal, and what the future might hold.
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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.
Final Thoughts
We're going to have to wait a bit longer for the final outcome of the Nippon/USS deal.
Final Thoughts
Sure, demand isn’t as good the market had hoped it would be earlier this year. But assuming it doesn’t fall of a cliff, buyers will have to restock at some point. And that might give domestic mills enough leverage to raise prices again.
Final Thoughts
While I would anticipate market sentiment to pivot and improve if all the questions around tariffs were answered, that still leaves us with a few other factors.