Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

Written by John Packard


This evening I attended the Metals Industry Boy Scout Dinner in Chicago. The steel, and now metals industries have supported the Chicago area Boy Scouts for more than 25 years and, once again, there was close to 1,000 mostly steel people at the cocktail party and dinner. This included steel mills, service centers, trading companies, toll processors and many others who are associated with the industry.

One of the main topics of conversation was about the Section 232 investigation and how each company was dealing with the uncertainty contained in this investigation. There are companies who feel the result was known long before the investigation was called for by President Trump. Others think there is no way the manufacturing companies are going to lay down and take the abuse that could come from a limit or elimination of some/all foreign steel.

Uncertainty is the word of the day.

As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us at Steel Market Update.

John Packard, Publisher

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Final thoughts

Last week was a newsy one for the US sheet market. Nucor’s announcement that it would publish a weekly HR spot price was the talk of the town – whether that was in chatter among colleagues, at the Boy Scouts of America Metals Industry dinner, or in SMU’s latest market survey. Some think that it could Nucor's spot HR price could bring stability to notoriously volatile US sheet prices, according to SMU's latest steel market survey. Others think it’s too early to gauge its impact. And still others said they were leery of any attempt by producers to control prices.