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    Final Thoughts

    December 8, 2024

    Final Thoughts

    Written by David Schollaert

    As my colleague Ethan Bernard noted in our most recent Final Thoughts, I don’t think many of us thought uncertainty would be mounting four weeks out from 2025. If anything, the general theme post-Steel Summit and into Q4 was that election night would be the turning point. And whatever had been keeping the steel market from building would finally get the jump-start it needed.

    While that hasn’t happened, and uncertainty continues, many are quite optimistic about a second Trump term.

    David Schollaert

    David Schollaert is deputy editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. David joined SMU after more than a decade in the metals and mining industry in a myriad of different roles. Much of his early experience and expertise were within the coverage and analysis of steel-making raw materials and served previously as senior editor of the CRU Prices Service. Most recently, however, before his return to market analysis, David held roles as a metals buyer and an operations manager for raw material suppliers. He can be contacted at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.

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    Final Thoughts: Is the steel market now tighter than in 2021?

    "Now, the problem is no longer the price. The problem is having access to steel." That would have made a good lead. But I can’t take credit for it. Those (very quotable) words are from Cleveland-Cliffs Chairman and CEO Lourenco Goncalves during the steelmaker’s quarterly earnings conference call on Monday. For a while, I thought the shortages we'd been hearing about might be mostly a problem for small- and mid-sized buyers. But we’re seeing even some of the biggest steel buyers talking openly about supply problems.