A note to service centers: SMU is working on a new prime flat rolled distributor inventory index and trends analysis. If your company is interested in participating or if you have any questions, please send me a note: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com The hurricane saga continues, and I want to take a moment to wish those who have […]
Our SMU team has been pretty lucky as those of us who live in Florida did not suffer significant damage to our homes. The Florida residents ended up escaping and being essentially unaffected by Hurricane Irma. However, Brett lives in Georgia and he lost power yesterday as a large tree took out the power line […]
The saga continues as we endeavor to escape the wrath of Hurricane Irma. After leaving Hobe Sound, we settled in Gainesville on the campus of the University of Florida. As the hurricane track began to move a little further west, we decided to do the same and headed into the western panhandle of Florida. That […]
I want to recognize the Steel Market Update writers who have been doing stellar work through a grueling work schedule. Last week, it was our conference where we had all hands on deck in order to make sure the conference ran smoothly. This week and this coming weekend (and probably all of next week), the […]
My final thoughts are going to be extremely brief this evening as I live close to the Atlantic Ocean in south Florida and there is a category 5 hurricane thinking about heading our way. So, we are in preparation mode and will move north and wait to see if it veers further west and into […]
Over the past three days, Steel Market Update (SMU) had all hands on deck for our 7th SMU Steel Summit Conference. The conference was once again held at the Georgia International Convention Center next to the Atlanta International Airport. We had record attendance with 661 executives registered compared to 434 last year. There were 309 […]
Good evening from Atlanta, site of our 7th SMU Steel Summit Conference. We announced this morning that attendance for this conference is a new record. We are pleased to announce we registered 661 manufacturing, steel and industry executives for this year’s conference, breaking last year’s 434 record. Our “Pre-Summit” Conference program on Monday attracted approximately […]
It’s the night before the start of our 7th SMU Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta. We are prepared and ready to go, but our thoughts and prayers are with those trapped in Houston and the surrounding communities in Texas. There are a great many people registered for our conference who are coming from the areas […]
I am now in Atlanta and the workload and my focus, and that of Ray Culley, Brett Linton and Diana, are all on organizing every minute of the SMU Steel Market Update program, which begins at 2 PM ET on Monday. There are always a few hiccups along the way… something to make your day […]
I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. We are trying to accommodate everyone who wants to attend our 2017 SMU Steel Summit Conference even though we are technically sold out. We did manage to loosen up a few seats and those were gobbled up the moment we let people know they were […]
Tomorrow is the full eclipse of the sun in many areas of the country. Where I live in southern Florida, the sun will be 81 percent covered. About four hours drive north of here will be in the high 90 percent range. If you are lucky enough to be in an area where a total […]
I asked trade attorney Lewis Leibowitz recently to look into the requests for reviews of the antidumping and countervailing duties on CORE (corrosion resistant steel) and cold rolled. The U.S. Department of Commerce published notices on July 3, 2017, asking any of the countries/companies affected if they wished to have a one-year review of the […]
As was mentioned earlier in tonight’s newsletter, our 2017 SMU Steel Summit Conference will be a sell-out this year and the question really is what day this week will we close registrations? I am both surprised and humbled by the response we have gotten to this year’s event. Our team works very hard to put […]
I was advised late on Friday afternoon that we should expect a Nucor price increase early next week. With scrap prices firming $10 to $30 per ton our expectation is for the increase to be $25-$30 per ton. Then the question will be will the industry support another increase after tepid (at best) support for […]
Rumor vs. Fact – I was speaking with Tim Triplett (our Executive Editor who recently joined SMU after a 19 year stint at Metal Center News) and we were talking about the “rumor” of a potential price hike by Nucor. Tim raised the question, as members of the media, is it appropriate for us to […]
We have been incredibly busy this week as we work toward getting all of the pieces of the SMU Steel Summit Conference puzzle to fit together as seamlessly as possible. There are a number of firsts for this conference, but I am going to wait until the conference starts for many of them to be […]
I adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Higher to Neutral. I did this after spending time analyzing the results from last week’s flat rolled steel market trends survey, looking at what was being recorded by some of the other indexes, noting that Congress and the president are on holiday for a few weeks and there […]
It has been another busy week here at Steel Market Update. We are hearing from steel buyers that Nucor is considering raising flat rolled prices by $25 per ton within the next few working days. The increase would follow an increase in ferrous scrap prices for August delivery. We have also heard that at least […]
I apologize in advance if it seems like I have an overly narrow focus (conference, conference, conference – Steel 101 workshop). Our conference is but a few weeks away and there are literally hundreds of things that need to get done (and get done correctly) before we even travel to Atlanta. I have been in […]
I had to smile on Friday when Brett in my office forwarded an email to me from one of the steel mills. Here is part of what this mill executive had to say: “I occasionally write to John just to vent. It doesn’t help him, but it makes me feel better. Section 232 is the […]
It is much like a broken record playing 232, 232 over and over again. I read an article on World Trade Online this morning that quoted White House trade advisor Peter Navarro who said, “…the Trump administration’s trade moves over its first six months will pale in comparison to the ‘amazing’ steps it will take […]
Wilbur Ross will be on Capital Hill again this week as he advises the House Ways and Means Committee on the status of his Section 232 investigation. It seems like the longer the market waits for an announcement (or at least the recommendations from the Department of Commerce) the less enthusiastic people are that anything […]
Boy, am I receiving mixed messages – more than I think I ever have before during my 40 year plus career in (or covering) the industry. My opinion is the mixed messages are due to the interference in “normal” market operations by the Trump administration. This is especially destructive when promises are made for Section […]
This is an over-whelming time to be involved with the steel industry. We have the steel mills announcing price increases at a time when prices normally are flat to lower (they have been running flat to mixed over the past few weeks). The market anxiety is at high ebb as steel buyers and sellers wait […]
As the Tuesday work day was coming to a close we want our readers to know that there is a meeting going on in the White House with a number of steel mill CEO’s, members of the WH staff and Wilbur Ross. According to World Trade Online the subject being discussed is Section 232… SMU […]
I am working on an article regarding foreign steel offers, which have almost dried up completely due to the threats/unknowns associated with the Section 232 investigation. There have been a number of months where foreign steel imports have exceeded 3.5 million tons. We are hearing that these months will soon be behind us – although […]
What was it – Tuesday that I said I thought the Section 232 results would be much less than what the steel mills thought a few weeks back? Last night on Air Force One President Trump spoke about considering quotas and tariffs on steel imports into the U.S. According to excerpts of his conversation with […]
Earlier today, I got a request from one of our readers looking for articles about Section 232 as they wanted to do an article on the subject for their customers. In responding to their inquiry, I performed two searches using the search box in the top righthand corner of our website. (I usually log in to […]
The question steel buyers are going to be asking themselves as this week begins is, will the Trump administration finally announce their findings on Section 232 and will this announcement allow President Trump to move on the duties or quotas expected by the domestic steel mills and many steel buyers? The question I am asking […]
This is my gut feeling, my opinion based on what I have been reading and watching in the news like everyone else. The world is trying to figure out if President Trump is going to start a trade war and the first bullets are made with flat rolled steel, pipe and long products. I am […]