Final Thoughts

There is an international scrap conference in Budapest this week. I heard from one of my sources that the talk is for maybe one more month of lower scrap prices. This is different than what I have been hearing from some of the U.S. sources who believe prices will move sideways in November.

That’s something to think about in light of international events in Turkey and Syria and how the Trump administration may react to the pressure to apply sanctions on Turkey. If the government applies some real pressure on Turkey (raising steel tariffs back to 50 percent has essentially zero impact), Turkey could respond by blocking U.S. scrap from coming into their country. If that were to happen, scrap would move from the U.S. coast inland and probably negatively impact scrap prices here.

My opinion: the low end of our hot rolled range this week could very well be a “firm” low. You need tons to get there, and once order books are sufficiently full for the remainder of the year, I would expect those deals to disappear. Watch scrap pricing for November, your customers demand levels and steel mill lead times for keys as to where pricing will be headed come December lead times and 1Q 2020.

Another item to watch carefully—the General Motors strike may be coming to an end. That would be good news for the steel mills and could be the catalyst for the mills to announce steel price increases (remember 1962?).

I have mixed emotions about the mills’ ability to collect much of an increase if it were to be announced now. It might be better to go back to the old model of increase announcements just prior to Thanksgiving (mid-November). Again, this is my opinion and you should not base your purchasing decisions on just my opinion.

Our next Steel 101 workshop will be held in Ontario, Calif., on Jan. 7-8, 2020. We will tour the California Steel Industries mill in Fontana as part of our workshop. Information can be found on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/events/steel101

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