Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
March 25, 2013
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 he thought I would run out of things to write about). It has been almost a full five years since SMU has been existence and we still have plenty to write about.
More importantly, to both me and our readers, we have expanded the company so we have more people to research, write, educate and market our products. Back in 2008 , I did 100 percent of the company writing. As you look at this issue you will notice that is no longer the case.
Plus, our company continues to grow.
I am pleased to announce we will have another new face joining our ranks as of Monday, March 25th. John Temples, former Learning Leader of Pacesetter Steel Service, Inc. will be joining our growing organization. John has a Master’s Degree in Education and an extensive resume on training and the learning process – particularly as it relates to the steel industry.
With the addition of John Temples and Peter Wright just before him, Steel Market Update continues its focus on knowledge/ learning/ understanding as being key focal points for our company.
For those who have not been keeping track, I now have the following people working with me to improve and grow our company and expand our services to our readers and those who are interacting with our website, workshops and Steel Summit conference: Brett Linton, Sophia Fain, Diana Packard, Jack Marshall, Sandy Williams, Peter Wright and John Temples. We also have three instructors who should be mentioned as part of our team: John Eckstein & Steve Painter who are with our Steel 101 workshop and Andre Marshall who is our instructor for Managing Price Risk. We also have a number of contributing writers which include (but are not limited to): Paul Lowrey of Steel Research Associates, Damon Sun of Daido International and a trading company source in Asia who prefers to remain anonymous. From one we have spawned many.
Please join me in welcoming Mr. Temples to our organization. His email address is: JohnTemples@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
Your business and your support have helped Steel Market Update grow and we all truly appreciate your kind words, suggestions, assistance in bringing us new business and most importantly we truly appreciate your business.
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Sometimes new presidential administrations hit the ground running. No time for change like the present. And sometimes new administrations blast off on a SpaceX rocket bound for Mars. There’s a big universe, and we’ve got a lot of flags to plant. Such seems to be the case with the new Trump administration.
Final Thoughts
What’s been the impact of tariff threats on prices and demand? In short, not much – or at least that was the case when I was writing this column on Sunday afternoon. Spot activity for Canadian material, for example, has been put on hold over the last few weeks while the market waits to see what the new tariff landscape might look like.
Final Thoughts
Next Monday marks the start of the second Trump administration. The limbo we’ve been living in since Election Day in early November will finally come to an end. What better way to take a look at what’s coming up in Washington, D.C., than a conversation with Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) President Philip K. Bell. He […]
Final Thoughts
It’s another week of big headlines and ho-hum pricing moves – which is to say the start of 2025 is looking a lot like the end of 2024. Scrap has settled up $20 per gross ton (gt). Steel prices, however, were a soft sideways this week. Chalk it up to uneven demand and abundant supply. And while we’re not aware of any major outages, some of you tell us that you’ve lost some shipping days here and there because of the recent cold snap.
Final Thoughts
I wrote in a Final Thoughts a few years ago that it seemed all the swans were black. More recently, I’ve been asked by some of you what the wildcards are for 2025. You could probably make the case that all the cards are wild now.