Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
February 12, 2020
I am asking manufacturing companies if their company buys parts from China, and if so, what has the coronavirus done to shipments of their products. An ag-related company told me the workers are just returning to the plant in China after the extended holidays. I was told they were seeing at least a two-week delay in delivery expectations and they are not sure if that could be extended should workers not be allowed on the docks, or if the parts can’t get delivered for shipment.
If your company is getting parts from China, please let me know what you are seeing from your suppliers (confidentially of course). You can reach me at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com
I was asked yesterday about an article Lewis Leibowitz wrote on Tuesday regarding the “…Preliminary Ruling of Circumvention” on the UAE and others who had been accused of using Chinese substrate in their galvanized being shipped to the United States. The question was about companies who did not participate (and therefore are unable to certify their substrate as not being Chinese). Lewis had provided me some information on this in an earlier email: “I have reviewed the Commerce preliminary determination on the UAE. There is only one company in the UAE that is not eligible to certify that Chinese substrate was not used in production. That company is Asian Ispat FZ LLC. Any CORE produced by that company will be subject to AD/CVD duty deposits on China—about 160 percent. All other UAE producers and exporters may certify. This is pretty much the same as earlier cases.”
Our March 31-April 1, 2020, Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals Workshop is about one-third full. We have plenty of room for more attendees. You can learn more about our agenda, instructors, where we are going and NLMK Portage on our website. You can also find pricing and how to register by going to www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/events/steel101
If you need information about how to renew your membership, upgrade to Premium, add more people or become a new subscriber, please contact Paige Mayhair at 724-720-1012 or by email: Paige@SteelMarketUpdate.com
As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, President & CEO
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts
Final thoughts
We got a little flack for adjusting our sheet momentum indicators to neutral last week. To be clear, we didn’t adjust them to lower. Part of the reason we moved them to neutral was because there are some unusual cross-currents in the current market. On the news side, you could make a case that there should nowhere to go but up.
Final thoughts
I think all of us know that sometimes courtships go wrong. A misplaced word or deed and soon things can go sideways, and not in the prices sense. Such could be the case with Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel’s play for U.S. Steel.
Final thoughts
We’re starting to see some impacts of the big trade case filed last week against imports of coated flat-rolled steel from 10 nations. Namely, we’ve heard that a range of traders have stopped offering material from Vietnam. An alleged dumping margin of nearly 160% will do that. Especially amid chatter of critical circumstances.
Final thoughts
The phrase “political football” has been tossed around a lot lately. (Pun probably intended.) For the humble journalists at SMU who thought the week following Steel Summit would prove a quiet one… the news cycle had other ideas
Final thoughts
Sheet prices didn’t roar back after Labor Day. But steel market news sure came out of the gate strong (or maybe chaotically is the better way to put it). First, the nearly $15-billion proposed sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel exploded into the news. And when I say exploded, I mean that all sides seem to be escalating things now.