Sentiment amongst most steel buyers is that the mills (USS & ArcelorMittal USA) will not lockout the union workers. It appears there is a bit of a stalemate right now as the mills feel they need to get something from the union and the union workers believe that what they have they earned and cannot […]
I continue to receive positive comments regarding last week’s Steel Summit Conference. What is especially gratifying is the number of speakers who have come back with comments as to how much they enjoyed the conference, the quality of the speakers and the interest of the attendees. Many of our speakers stayed for the entire conference, […]
We had a great conference! Don’t take my word for it, go out and talk to the hundreds of people who attended this year and ask their opinion. We are well on the way to making this conference THE Steel Summit Conference of the year for those who are actively involved in the steel industry. […]
It’s been a long day for myself and my SMU team as we host our 5th Steel Summit Conference. The day began early for us with wake up calls around 5 AM after working most of the night on final presentation slides and networking with our attendees at the Marriott hotel where we are staying. […]
It’s showtime! Our 5th SMU Steel Summit Conference is locked, loaded and ready to go. We move into the sold out Marriott Gateway Hotel early tomorrow (Monday) afternoon where we will begin registration at 4 PM until 6 PM. We anticipate the bar area will be full of steel people on Monday evening so come […]
We are in the “home stretch” as our 5th Steel Summit Conference is just over the horizon. We continue to work on the finishing touches, checking to make sure we have all the speaker presentations (a number of them are waiting until the last minute so the presentation is in sync with world and domestic […]
Our office is overwhelmed with the response we have had to our 5th Steel Summit Conference which is only our 2nd two day conference. As of this afternoon we had 272 people registered. The facility we have can comfortably seat 292 people… We will have a full house. Thank you. For those coming to the […]
We are now one week away from our 5th Steel Summit Conference. As I have mentioned before, we will set a new record for attendance this year, potentially breaking last year’s record by 80 to 100 people. Our Steel Summit Conference continues to get accolades from those in the industry for the quality of our […]
You may have noticed that I haven’t been pushing the Steel Summit Conference quite as much as in the past. This is due to the fact that we are coming close to filling the space allotted. We are expecting a full house and a tremendous program. If you would like to attend we have not […]
It was very sad to hear of the passing of John Correnti earlier today. Mr. Correnti at 68 years old still had much to give to the steel industry and his Big River Steel mill will only be but one part of his legacy. The steel industry is buzzing on the news and I have […]
I was speaking with the owner of a manufacturing company late last week. He told me his company had a number of union plants and he has negotiated a number of union contracts over the past few years. “People don’t strike anymore,” he said, “unless someone puts a line in the sand and forces the […]
There are so many dumping suits being filed at the same time that it is difficult to keep track of the various dates as to when actions will be taken either by the US Department of Commerce of the US International Trade Commission (ITC). There are 5 major groups of suits which affect the flat […]
With the filing of the hot rolled trade case (which was expected by almost everyone in the industry and the date had been leaked long ago) we now have all flat rolled products followed by Steel Market Update involved. It will take time to sort through all of the data and for the process to […]
The first thing we need to talk about is the rumor that we have heard from multiple sources that there will be a trade case announced on hot rolled coil this week. Our sources are telling us the information is a couple of weeks old and may change but the date being suggested in August […]
We released our Steel Summit Conference App this morning to all of our attendees. Almost immediately I got my first comment from the president of a manufacturing company who downloaded the App. “John, the app is excellent. Clean look and easy to navigate. Looking forward to seeing you next month.” The comment was made on […]
The Steel Summit Conference is pushing 230 people and we have 4 weeks to go. We sold out the room block for September 1st. We should (we hope) be able to get more rooms added, however the room block expires either when we sell out the revised number or on August 10th, whichever comes first. […]
On August 1st Steel Market Update celebrated our seventh (7th) anniversary and began our 8th year in operation. Some day I am going to figure out how many newsletters and articles I have written about the industry over these past seven years (not counting the articles written before I took the newsletter public in 2008 […]
First, I want to thank a number of our readers who went out of their way to compliment Steel Market Update on our coverage of the cold rolled trade case in Tuesday’s issue. My background is such that I have been on both sides of the fence – both at a steel mill and representing […]
I knew the cold rolled trade suits were coming this week. It had been rumored for a couple of months just as the hot rolled trade suits are being discussed for August. It doesn’t make the day of the filing (or night and day if you received one of the USS emails last night) go […]
In just five weeks the hoard will be arriving in Atlanta and making their way to the Atlanta Airport Marriott Gateway Hotel which is located next to the Georgia International Convention Center where our 5th Steel Summit Conference will be held on September 1st and 2nd. We don’t know what the final numbers will be […]
A quote from one of our Steel Summit 2015 keynote speakers, “Although the price of oil seems to be more tied to the dollar, there is some supply and demand factors that can impact the magnitude of the impact of the dollar’s value on the per barrel price. Therefore, we have to watch what the […]
Last chance for early bird registration for our 5th Steel Summit Conference which will be held in Atlanta on September 1 & 2. If you can’t register online this evening and want to get the special rate (which is a $200 savings off the full rate) shoot us an email and request an invoice: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. […]
We will begin our mid-July flat rolled steel market analysis (survey) on Monday at 8 AM ET. If you receive an invitation, please click on the link and spend a few minutes helping us better understand the flat rolled steel markets, trends and pricing. If you are not on the invite list but would like […]
So, just when you think everything is going along very smoothly somebody or something throws you a curve. In business you should be used used to it, you should expect them. we had one thrown at us on Tuesday and Wednesday when an upgrade we were making to our software unexpectedly impacted our Steel Summit […]
I am scheduled to be in Two Harbors, Minnesota on July 27th. I anticipate touring an iron ore mine prior to boarding the M/V James R Barker along with Interlake Steamship Company Vice President, Brendan O’Conner. Once the vessel self loads approximately 58,000 tons of iron ore pellets we will move across Lake Superior, through […]
Something different from Steel Market Update this week. I would like for you to forward our newsletters to your friends, customers, suppliers or anyone who might have an interest in the steel industry. We continue to offer an incentive to companies that recommend our newsletter to others. As long as the new customer provides us […]
Social medita is becoming an even larger forum for getting information to those who want it – and who want it quickly. We use our own blog which you can access from the Home Page (or any other page) from our website. We blog about lots of items which do not make it into the […]
Our ferrous scrap sources told us that Detroit scrap prices were settled earlier today where all of the prices were reported as being sideways (no change from June pricing) with the exception of shredded scrap which was reported as being down $10 to three mills, sideways to another and one mill being undecided. We will […]
I want to wish everyone in the United States a happy and safe 4th of July holiday weekend. This evening’s edition of Steel Market Update is what I consider “lite” due to the limited number of articles as I am trying to give the SMU team some time off to enjoy the long weekend. Steel […]
In past years, Steel Market Update would take a week off over the 4th of July holiday. This year, with the 4th falling on a Saturday and the industry dealing with a number of “hot” issues such as price increase announcements, coated trade case and the new Level the Playing Field law, well, we decided […]