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    Analysis

    June 3, 2019

    Final Thoughts

    Written by John Packard

    I am in Washington, D.C., attending the joint SMA/AISI annual meeting. I had the unique opportunity to sit down with Phil Bell, President of the Steel Manufacturers Association, and the SMA board to discuss my viewpoints regarding various issues affecting the electric arc furnace manufacturers. The SMA got to see a few of the proprietary products being produced by Steel Market Update that I think will be beneficial to their businesses in the future.

    One of those products is our Service Center Inventories project. SMU is analyzing the number of days of supply of flat rolled and plate steels being held on the floor of the service centers in the United States. We are also analyzing the percentage of inventory that is available to be sold into the spot market, and we are evaluating the number of days of supply of new inventory that is on order. Right now, this data is only being shared with our service center data providers. They receive a “Flash” report on the fifth business day of the month, and then about a week later our full status report. This allows them to make quick purchasing or sales decisions. If your company is a service center and you would like to be a data provider, please contact me at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com

    John Packard

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