Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
January 24, 2014
The projected forecast for Mobile, Alabama during the first week of February is for temperatures to be in the low to mid 60’s. A far cry from the temperatures which have been well below freezing in the Upper Midwest and at, or below, in the rest of the states north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Steel Market Update still has a few slots open for our next Steel 101 workshop. I thought it interesting of the companies already registered, five of them are sending employees for the second, third or fourth time. Our workshops tend to attract a rather diverse group of companies and this one is no exception. From the director of a internationally known steel-related organization to manufacturing, distribution and suppliers to the steel industry. We have both long and flat product companies attending as we concentrate on understanding the basics of the steel making and rolling process as well as how the materials are sold, used and how commodities, supply and demand and other market fundamentals impact the markets. You can find more on our website or you are welcome to contact our office with any questions you might have. Registration is available online or through our office: 800-432-3475.
Premium level members will get access to the Power Point presentation of last week’s SMU steel market survey as well as a write-up about some of the key areas we found during the survey process. We are also producing our Key Market Indicators for your review this week.
If you are an Executive level member and would like to learn more about becoming a Premium Level member please contact us at: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by phone at: 800-432-3475.
If you are currently on a trail of our newsletter – you are receiving the Executive level newsletter. If you would like to learn more about our Premium product you can do so by speaking with one of our representatives: JohnTemples@SteelMarketUpdate.com or Ryan@SteelMarketUpdate.com or through our office: 800-432-3475.
We also have a Monthly level membership which includes our Monthly Newsletter. You can learn more about becoming a Monthly subscriber on our website or by contacting either John or Ryan as noted above.
I will be at the Tampa Port Authority Steel Conference on February 6-7, 2014. Later in February I will be attending the FMA Toll Processing conference in Austin, Texas. The FMA Toll Processing Conference agenda looks quite interesting as there is a large section on Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS).
Steel Market Update does plan on producing a Steel Forecasting & Steel Summit Conference in September 2014. We will not be working with Metalcon as in past years. We feel this will allow those who were working the Metalcon show an opportunity to attend our conference. We are finalizing details but tentative dates are September 3 & 4, 2014 in Atlanta.
In our Steel Buyers Basics article earlier in this newsletter we mentioned that we are in the process of producing a new workshop: Managing Price Risk 2 – Strategies & Execution. We are aiming at the first week of April in Chicago at the CME Group. Our full program and details will be forthcoming soon.
We have a workshop for everyone. If you would like more details on any of our workshops and/or conferences please check out our website or contact our office: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
We also produce custom workshops for companies and organizations. If interested please contact me at 800-432-3475.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
John Packard
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Final Thoughts
t this point in the game I think what we can say about Nippon Steel’s proposed buy of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel is that it will go through, it won’t go through, or the outcome will be something new and completely unexpected. Then again, I’m probably still missing a few options.
Final Thoughts
President-elect Donald Trump continues to send shockwaves through the political establishment (again). And steel markets and ferrous scrap markets continue to be, well, anything but shocking. As the French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote in 1849, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." (I thought the quote might have been Yankees catcher Yogi Berra in 1949. Google taught me something new today.)
Final Thoughts
President-elect Donald Trump will officially retake the White House on Jan. 20. I’ve been getting questions about how his administration’s policies might reshape the steel industry and domestic manufacturing. I covered the tumult and norm busting of Trump's first term: Section 232, Section 301, USMCA - and that's just on the trade policy side of things. It's safe to say that we'll have no shortage of news in 2025 when it comes to trade and tariffs.
Final Thoughts
Another presidential election cycle has come to an end. If you’re anything like me, part of you is just happy you no longer need to unsubscribe or “text STOP to opt-out” from the onslaught of political text messages this cycle produced.
Final Thoughts
With the US presidential election decided, ‘wait and see’ has quickly turned into ‘we’re about to find out.’ Following Donald Trump’s victory, I had a chance to sit down with Kevin Dempsey, president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). He gave his thoughts on what he thought we might see in Trump’s second term in office, and what it means for steel.