Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
November 15, 2019
Do you think the country is going to be a little distracted this week with all the witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment hearings? A reminder of the results of one of our real-time polls where 53 percent of the 493 individuals responding to a question about who they were going to vote for in the presidential race in 2020 answered President Trump. President Trump can get wet, but he doesn’t seem to rust….
On Monday we will begin our mid-November flat rolled and plate steel market trends survey as we look to better understand this market. Invitations will be sent out at 8 AM ET.
If you would like to be included, please send me a note at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Cold air has come all the way to South Florida where earlier today I got up close to a lizard who was desperately trying to catch some heat off my brick sidewalk. The lizard (seen here in the picture to the left) was alive and well as I reached down to touch it. However, the 60 some odd degrees seemed a bit much for this cold-blooded creature who is used to 70’s at night and 80’s during the day at this time of the year. He refused to budge off the somewhat warm brick no matter how much I prodded him…
Why do I bring up the plight of this poor lizard? I thought it would be a great segue to mention that our next Steel 101 workshop will be held in beautiful Southern California on Jan. 7-8, 2020. Many of you will be searching for warm bricks of your own as you try to navigate the winter of 2020. Maybe a couple of days in Ontario, Calif., and a tour of a nice warm steel mill (in this case, California Steel Industries) might do the trick. You can learn more about our workshop, the venue, costs and how to register on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/events/steel101 or you are welcome to contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com
A note about the 2020 SMU Steel Summit, our 10th conference, which will be held in Atlanta on Aug. 24-26. The venue is not going to change, but there will be some advances as we look to expand the size and scope of the conference. We are anticipating close to 1,200 attendees, which will make for exceptional networking. I am working hard on the speakers already. Mark your calendars to join us in Atlanta at the end of August 2020.
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
SMU has heard from some larger buyers who have stepped back into the market to buy at prices that, if not at a bottom, they assess to be close to one. Is it enough to stretch out lead times and send prices upward again? Or do we continue to scrape along the mid-$600s per short ton (st) as we have been doing for most of the last month?
Final thoughts
Cleveland-Cliffs Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves had some insightful things to say today about the steel market and about a conference we suspect might be Steel Summit.
Final thoughts
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, when you add in some commentary from respected peers in the steel industry to those pictures, that may shoot you up to five thousand words, at least. In that spirit, we’ve added some snapshots from our market survey this week, along with some comments from market participants.
Final thoughts
I thought we’d have more clarity this week on Section 232, Mexico, and a potential carve-out for steel melted and poured in Brazil. As of right now, the only official comment I have is from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).
Final thoughts
There are just 40 days left until the 2024 SMU Steel Summit gets underway on Aug. 26 at the Georgia International Convention Center (GICC) in Atlanta. And I’m pleased to announce that it's official now: More than 1,000 people have registered to at attend! Another big development: The desktop version of the networking app for the event has officially launched!