As John Temples mentioned in an article above, we are being forced to be a tad more protective of the information we are delivering to our members. SMU has invested heavily in our new website – both in our time and money. This was done so that we could continue to grow – add new […]
The early forecast is for scrap prices to increase by $20 per gross ton in early November. If this happens it could help keep domestic mill prices at current levels (or slightly higher). It could also prompt the domestic mills to ask for another price increase. Longer term the analysts believe domestic scrap prices will […]
For the past four plus months, Steel Market Update has been producing our newsletter(s) on two websites at the same time. Considering our company has a relatively small number of full time employees this has not been an easy task. Besides me – Brett Linton, Sandy Williams, Peter Wright, John Temples as well as Ryan […]
We are in the “final” testing of our new website. Unless we have another setback in the coming days we should be able to bring the site up within the next week to 10 days. Give us a few more days to make sure the subscription system is working properly and then we will need […]
Steel Market Update saw a letter from Majestic Steel to their customers publically announcing a price increase. Majestic, which is well known as a supplier of coated products to the HVAC and construction industries, told their customers that the price increase is due to cold rolled base prices reaching as high as $39.50/cwt and $40.50/cwt […]
A note from one of my long-time readers, “You need to get more controversial in your final thoughts. Tell us what you think.” I have taken a relatively low profile (although some might disagree) regarding my opinions on mill price negotiations – both contract and spot. So the way I will respond to my long-time […]
We are back in our offices, life is back to normal after traveling over the past four days to Arkansas and our website due date keeps on getting pushed back… Frustration is running high at SMU these days. The developers haven’t given us a firm promise date but it is beginning to look like November […]
The weather in Arkansas couldn’t have been more perfect. We had temperatures in the low 70’s with a cool breeze and sunny. A perfect day to go on a mill tour. I want to take a moment to thank all of the employees at Nucor Steel Arkansas for hosting Steel Market Update and our Steel […]
I am in Blytheville, Arkansas making final preparations for our Steel 101: Introduction to Steelmaking & Market Fundamentals workshop. We have a full class which will tour the Nucor Hickman facility on Tuesday afternoon. We will send out a complimentary issue of our latest Monthly Newsletter on Monday. Once our new website comes online we […]
A quick note about ferrous scrap. From the early deals being done – and there are still a number yet which need to be completed. Our sources are advising us that scrap prices have been trading lower by $5 to $10 per gross ton in the east. However, in the Midwest there have been trades […]
I made a decision many years ago that when the domestic steel industry (multiple mills) announced price increases that I would automatically move the SMU Price Momentum Indicator to Neutral. Since we are already at Neutral it is important to understand that at this point prices could move up, down or absolutely nowhere from where […]
Our next SMU steel market survey will begin on Monday, September 30th and will run through Thursday, October 3rd. If you receive an invitation please take a few minutes to participate by clicking on the link contained in the invitation. I will be in my office first thing on Monday before traveling down to Atlanta […]
Our last newsletter was interesting enough that I fielded quite a number of phone calls and emails (I take them all and respond to them all). The main point of discussion was regarding the IHS Global Insight article from the presentation given by their steel analyst, John Anton. The essential premise of the presentation being […]
I want to thank IHS Global Insight for allowing SMU and our readers to attend their Pricing & Purchasing Summit which was held in Chicago over the past two days. SMU is interested in conducting a similar conference dedicated to the steel industry and identifying risks next year as we strive to bring new value […]
I will be in Chicago on Monday and Tuesday of this week attending the IHS Global Insight forecasting conference. If you would like to meet with me during the conference send me an email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com and we will arrange a convenient time. I will be in Chicago on Monday and Tuesday of this week attending […]
SMU received a note from a Severstal spokesperson that both their Columbus, MS and Dearborn, MI facilities have planned maintenance in each facility during the month of November. The Dearborn facility will have work performed on their hot strip mill (HSM) while the Columbus facility is having work done on one of their two EAF’s […]
Our steel market survey began on Monday and will continue until late Thursday afternoon. If you have received an invitation to participate please click on the link and respond to the questions you can answer. We are doing triple duty so my apologies if we are missing an article here or there. We are literally […]
While attending the ASD meeting in Cleveland last week, SMU reporter, Sandy Williams heard a steel service center discussing the impact of Obamacare on their company which is located in Ohio, “Because Obamacare healthcare and some of the laws, quite frankly, in the State of Ohio, we are now forced to go to temporary employees […]
We are tired, we have been working almost around the clock in an effort to at least be close to our forecasted Friday, September 13th launch date. When we go out and teach new steel people about the business one of the stories I like to repeat was about what I would tell virtually every […]
The process of populating, testing, editing, fixing, testing, editing, adding content, editing, testing – well, you get the idea…. The website work continues and we continue to strive to meet the Friday the 13th deadline. My gut is telling me a week late may be a better target – but, we are going to try […]
A reminder that our “thumbnail” or smaller graphics are “clickable” so you can view them in a larger format. So, don’t squint and try to figure out some of these smaller graphics – just click on them… We still have a target date of this Friday to launch our new website. I am beginning to […]
I read two articles recently regarding the impact of the devaluation of the India rupee against the U.S. dollar. One article (IHS Global Insight) discussed the metallurgical coal markets as the Indian steel mills have pulled back from the market as their costs spiral out of control. According to IHS Global the Indian currency lost […]
When is Sunday really Monday and Tuesday suppose to be Wednesday…? One of the changes SMU is making is to date our newsletters on the day they are actually produced and sent. So, you will note that tonight’s newsletter is dated, Tuesday, September 3rd as opposed to Wednesday, September 4th. SMU will produce three Executive […]
The Association of Steel Distributors (ASD) will host a Regional Meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio on Thursday, September 12th. The keynote speaker for the evening is Ohio Governor, John Kasich. Go to the ASD website for more information and registration: www.SteelDistributors.org. The ASD will also host their Annual Fall Conference at the […]
Our apologies to those who waited to register for our Steel 101 workshop which is being held in Blytheville, Arkansas. We have sold out the workshop and have a fairly significant waiting list. We are working on our schedule for next year when we anticipate holding four workshops around the country. We are also taking […]
I remember back to August 2008 when I first started selling memberships to the Steel Market Update newsletter – one of my good steel customers from my Winner Steel and trading company days wondered out loud when he told me he didn’t know what I would be writing about in 30 days (in other words […]
On a personal note I want to wish Joel Mazur much success in his new position as President of CENTRIA. For those of you who do not know this, Joel Mazur was president of Winner Steel while I was still an agent for the steel mill (Winner Steel is now called Sharon Coatings and is […]