Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

Written by John Packard


I was pleased that we got 21 quality nominations for our first SMU NexGen Leadership Award, sponsored by the Steel Manufacturers Association. I mention each of the canidates in an article earlier in tonight’s newsletter. I hope we are able to double the canidates next year as we strive as an industry to bring new young blood into our ranks.

It is official – the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference will break all of our previous attendance records.

On Friday of this past week I was in Atlanta at the Georgia International Convention Center working on the opening presentations for Monday, Aug. 26, and Tuesday, Aug. 27. We are in the final stages of preparing for what promises to be the largest SMU Steel Summit Conference in our history. The program is in place and we are talking to the speakers to make sure they are prepared to discuss the subjects our attendees need to understand to make decisions about 2020 and beyond.

John Packard Summit 18Here are the latest company registrations over just the past few days: JFE Shoji Trade America Inc., Metal Master, NLMK USA, Polaris Industries, SeAH Steel USA, LLC, B&W Trailer Hitches, Dongbu USA, Magic Steel, OshKosh Corporation, Mueller Water Products, Minova, Jemison Metals, Atlas Tube Company, Sherwin-Williams, Port of Vancouver USA, Friedman Industries, Komatsu Mining Corp.

We are now 21 days away from the opening of the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference (Aug. 26-28). If you would like to register to attend this year’s event, and join hundreds of steel buyers, sales and sales management, top executives from manufacturing, distribution, steel mills, trading companies, toll processors and various suppliers to the industry – please click on this link.

For more information about the conference, please visit this link.

Our next Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals Workshop in Cincinnati is also filling up. We have made some tweaks to the program as we tap the talents of our newest instructor, Sandy Simon. The instructors for our Steel 101 workshops are highly qualified based on their experience in buying, selling or producing steel. You can learn more by going to www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel101

We will begin our early August flat rolled and plate steel market trends survey on Monday at 8 AM.

We are also working on our SMU Service Centers Inventory Analysis/Indices on flat rolled and plate and our “Flash” report will be out mid-week this week (for data providers only right now). We will be rolling out this proprietary product at the conference during our first session at 1 PM on Monday. Come join us to find out what we have been working on for the past two years, and especially since the acquisition of SMU by the CRU Group.

I am in the office over the next two weeks. If you need me, you can reach me at 800-432-3475.

If your company is up for renewal, or if you would like to learn about how to upgrade your account to Premium (which will have access to the Service Center Inventories analysis beginning in September), please contact Paige Mayhair at 724-720-1012 or by email: Paige@SteelMarketUpdate.com

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

John Packard, President & CEO

Latest in Final Thoughts

Final thoughts

Thanks to everyone who attended our Steel Hedging 101 workshop in Chicago on Wednesday. I learned a lot from StoneX Group’s Spencer Johnson, who instructs the course, and from your good questions. One thing that Spencer said sticks with me as I write this column. Namely, that momentum drives steel prices more than other commodity markets. If you watch steel futures, you’ll see up days and down days. But it’s rare to see the momentum shifting back and forth within any given day.