Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
February 10, 2014
For those of you watching the weather you may be aware that Atlanta is suffering through another winter weather event. Since our offices are located north of Atlanta that means we are suffering as well. The good news for me personally is I decided to spend a few days in Florida after attending the Port of Tampa Steel Conference this past week. As the weather has moved in our date to return to North Georgia keeps moving out….
Thanks to our staff for keeping everything together in my absence. The weather forecast for our area tomorrow is 4″ to 6″ inches of snow. Something tells me I won’t be back in my office tomorrow – maybe on Thursday.
A note about pricing and momentum. We are in a market where not all mills are equal. The most aggressive mills have been the EAF producers while the integrated mills have had less to sell in the spot market. Even so, we are hearing AK Steel has developed some holes in hot rolled and this has been one of the signs I have been waiting for prior to moving our SMU Price Momentum Indicator to Lower from Neutral.
We have heard that ArcelorMittal is suffering from some cold weather related production issues which has been keeping them out of the spot market (or at the higher end of the spot market). As one of our sources stated in our pricing article, the weakness is with conversion and some mini-mills. Not so much with the integrated mills.
Popping to another subject, a reminder that our next Steel 101: Introduction to Steelmaking & Market Fundamentals workshop will be held at The Henry Hotel in Dearborn, Michigan and will include a tour of Severstal Dearborn. This will be our second tour of the Severstal facility and they did an exceptional job the first time around. Space is limited for this program so you will want to register early. You can do so on our website or feel free to contact our office with any questions you might have (800-432-3475 or info@SteelMarketUpdate.com).
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard
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I want to say a huge ‘thank you’ from all of us at SMU to all of you (more than 1,500!) who attended Steel Summit this year. We appreciate you taking time out of busy schedules to join us – whether that was up on stage, submitting thoughtful questions, or catching up over a drink and bite to eat. Also, a bit shoutout to everyone at SMU and at CRU who made this event possible. It’s no understatement to say that we have a fantastic team.
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The big show is just about here. SMU Steel Summit will be getting underway on Monday. Where does the networking begin? I’d say at the airport. So don’t forget your business cards. And it can't hurt to wear a company golf shirt.