Attendance at Steel Market Update’s Steel Summit Conference, Aug. 27-29 in Atlanta, will set a record this year. With two months to go, registrations already equal last year’s total of 650. But it’s not just a matter of how many individuals will attend, but how many different types of individuals will attend, that promises to […]
Steel Market Update is working with AK Steel as we present our first Steel 201: Introduction to Advanced High Strength & Other New Steels workshop. This workshop is meant to be a continuing education course focused on how steel is made with a special focus on advanced high-strength steels for automotive and other “lightweighting” applications. […]
A note to those who might be interested, we have a couple of exhibition spots still available for this year’s SMU Steel Summit Conference, which will be held at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta on Aug. 27-29. We will have close to 800 people at this year’s event (the event will be a […]
Liberty Steel is set to reopen on Monday, June 25, in Georgetown, S.C. The wire-rod rolling facility, purchased by London-based Liberty House in December, will be renamed Liberty Steel Georgetown. Currently, the mill is in a testing phase, but is expected to begin production soon. United Steelworkers Union Local 7898 credits the recent tariffs on […]
Steel Market Update and the CRU Group are pleased to announce the SMU Steel Summit Conference will include a fireside chat between CRU Group Executive Chairman Robert Perlman and SMU President & CEO John Packard. Since Steel Market Update has been acquired by the CRU Group out of London, we thought it appropriate that Steel […]
Steel Market Update and the CRU Group are pleased to announce the SMU Steel Summit Conference will include a fireside chat between CRU Group Executive Chairman Robert Perlman and SMU President & CEO John Packard. Since Steel Market Update has been acquired by the CRU Group out of London, we thought it appropriate that Steel […]
Construction jobs were added in 42 states and the District of Columbia between May 2017 and May 2018, while 28 states added construction jobs between April and May, according to an analysis of Labor Department data by the Associated General Contractors of America. California added the most construction jobs (50,000 jobs, 6.2 percent) during the […]
Steel imports increased 12.7 percent from March to April to 3.76 million net tons and were 12.1 percent higher than a year ago, according to the latest data from the American Institute for International Steel. The U.S. imported 705,000 net tons from Canada, up 9.2 percent from March and more than one-third higher than April […]
Quebec will lend a helping hand to smaller Canadian companies in the aluminum and steel industry that will suffer from the Section 232 tariffs imposed by the United States. The province will offer C$100 million ($77.1 million U.S.) in loans and guarantees on loans after companies reported that contracts were being canceled by customers unwilling […]
Many of you are already customers of CRU but for those who don’t know us as well, John thought it would be useful to say a little about what we do. CRU has been growing our services since we were formed in 1969 in London, and we now have about 260 employees in 12 countries […]
Are the markets’ fears of a trade war exaggerated or are their concerns justified? Popular economist Alan Beaulieu, president of ITR Economics, offers the following macroeconomic perspective: Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum coming into the U.S. from Canada, Mexico and the EU are a hot topic, and with good reason. The extension of […]
It is clearly in the crosshairs. What we are referring to is the record for attendance at a SMU Steel Summit Conference. We set the record in 2017 with 667 registrations and 650 attendees (17 were unable to come due to Houston hurricane). Registrations just broke through the 600-person barrier and with 78 days to […]
With 77 days still to go, it is clearly in the crosshairs. What we are referring to is the record for attendance at a SMU Steel Summit Conference. We set the record in 2017 with 667 registrations and 650 attendees (17 were unable to come due to Houston hurricane). Registrations just broke through the 600-person […]
This is not a “kiss and tell story” but rather an explanation of why I, John Packard, founder and owner of Steel Market Update, decided to sell my business to the CRU Group. CRU, known globally for its news, analysis and pricing information, was not the only suitor interested in SMU, but they were the […]
This is not a “kiss and tell story” but rather an explanation of why I, John Packard, founder and former owner of Steel Market Update, decided to sell my business to the CRU Group. CRU, known globally for its news, analysis and pricing information, was not the only suitor interested in SMU, but they were […]
CRU Group, the global leader in steel analysis, prices and consulting, has acquired the highly successful U.S.-based Steel Market Update (SMU) conference, training and newsletter business. The SMU Steel Summit, which takes place Aug. 27-29 in Atlanta, is the premier steel conference in North America while the SMU Newsletter is an industry leader, providing independent […]
Construction employment continued to expand, increasing by 25,000 jobs to 7,210,000 for the month of May, according to an analysis of government data by the Associated General Contractors of America. Employers added 286,000 jobs over the past year. Construction employment grew 4.1 percent over the past 12 months, significantly higher than the 1.6 percent rise […]
Last year, it took Steel Market Update until Aug. 1 to reach the number of registrations already booked for the 2018 SMU Steel Summit Conference. Today alone we received registrations from: Duferco, L&W Supply, A.B. Martin Roofing Supply, Ryerson, Lapham-Hickey Steel and Roll-Kraft. We are just a few people shy of 550 and on our […]
Last year, it took Steel Market Update until Aug. 1 to reach the number of registrations already booked for the 2018 SMU Steel Summit Conference. On Tuesday alone we received registrations from: Duferco, L&W Supply, A.B. Martin Roofing Supply, Ryerson, Lapham-Hickey Steel and Roll-Kraft. We are just a few people shy of 550 and on […]
Ask almost any mill, service center or OEM executive to name their biggest headaches and trucking will be near the top of each list. Early this year, new regulations took effect requiring trucks to be equipped with electronic logging devices to limit drivers’ hours behind the wheel, creating an immediate shortage of trucking capacity. Trucks […]
This morning, World Trade Online reported Brazil as “pushing back on Section 232 quota deal with the U.S.” I did some research on my own to see if traders associated with Brazil, Argentina or other markets that may have verbal agreements with the Trump administration regarding quotas were having issues due to negotiations with the […]
Marking a win for U.S. steelmakers, the Commerce Department on Monday officially slapped duties on corrosion-resistant steel (CORE) and certain cold rolled steel products imported from Vietnam that were produced from substrate originating in China. Commerce determined that even though the products underwent some processing in Vietnam, they should still be subject to the same […]
Union Partners, the Chicago-based metals and logistics company, has hired Jay Ervin as vice president of business development. In this new role, Ervin will be responsible for managing the company’s sales, customer and prospect strategies, as well as strategic partnerships. Ervin formerly held numerous sales and management roles in 14 years with Leeco Steel. “As […]
Have you ever experienced the dizzying sensation of vertigo? Perhaps you were on a Steel Market Update workshop tour and felt woozy as you ascended higher and higher on the catwalks during the mill tour. ArcelorMittal South Africa recognized the danger that a fear of heights could cause employees who work in extreme conditions and […]
Despite all the uncertainty on the trade front, demand has stayed strong, and buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel remain optimistic about their chances for success in current and near-term market conditions. The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index, which measures how buyers and sellers of flat rolled and plate steels feel about their companies’ […]
In its final determination in the Vietnam CORE anti-circumvention case, the Commerce Department ruled Thursday that imports of corrosion-resistant galvanized steel from Vietnam will still be subject to substantial antidumping and countervailing duties unless the importer can prove the substrate used in the production process was not sourced from China. “Commerce may face challenges to […]
Steel Market Update published some inaccurate information about our room blocks for the upcoming Aug. 27-29 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We stated that the entire room block was sold out. In fact, only the lead hotel – Atlanta Marriott Gateway Hotel – has sold all of the rooms in our block. The other two Gateway […]
Demand remains strong and prices for galvanized steel have begun to level off after rising for most of the year, which is positive news for the HVAC industry. However, a big decline in foreign imports could dramatically reduce the availability of coated steel later in the year. “In the fourth quarter, there could be quite […]
Steel prices are way up and likely to move even higher given events on the trade front. But, so far, they have not hurt demand in the HVAC sector, reported members of the Heating, Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) on Tuesday during the trade association’s monthly steel conference call. John Packard, publisher of Steel […]
Demand remains strong in the HVAC sector despite the high steel prices, but distributors share an uncomfortable feeling that the favorable conditions may not last. “Business is good, and prices are high, but they are going to fall. When is anyone’s guess. You just have to try to protect yourself and have the least amount […]