Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
December 15, 2014
There has been a lot of information floating about the marketplace regarding the Chinese steel rebates and especially those represented as special alloy through the addition of boron to the steel. We wrote about this subject in early November and we remind our readers to go back and review the article entitled: Chinese Boron Added Steel & Rebates: What Does it Mean? We got an email from one of our trading contacts in Asia and he wrote to us about the Chinese system and the rebates, “John, people not involved in Chinese Steel and only analyzing info really have no understanding of how the Chinese work the system. I advised you that Boron Added products have their own HS Code and easily cancelled, but take a look at other Micro Alloys in Steel.. If the Rebate on just Boron Steel is removed, then what is to stop China from having an SAE1006Cr Grade I/O SAE1006B? The amount of Cr would be the same as the Boron requirement of 0.0008% Min. which is already in most Steels anyway. People underestimate the Chinese and undermining the system and finding Loopholes John.”
I am pleased to announce that Steel Market Update has added another instructor to our Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop. Mario Briccetti who worked with me on our first custom sales training program will be joining myself and John Eckstein, Peter Wright and Steve Painter in South Carolina on January 20 & 21, 2015. Mario Briccetti is the Principal of Briccetti & Associates a Supply Chain consulting firm. He graduated from Syracuse University with a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering. Since 2000 he has been in charge of purchasing for Nordyne (HVAC OEM manufacturer), Vice President of Purchasing for Gibraltar Strip Steel and most recently was Vice President of Purchasing for Metal Sales Manufacturing Corp a leading supplier of metal building panels.
Mario did a great job at Crompion International last week and I think his purchasing perspective and expertise we complement (spelled correctly this time) our existing team. If you or your company has been considering registering for one of our Steel 101 workshops I encourage you to do so. I have not toured the Nucor Berkeley facility in the past and I have heard that the mill is exceptional and the Nucor people do a great job. You can find more details about our workshop on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com where you can click on one of the Steel 101 links in the Events section of the website.
A reminder that our last flat rolled steel survey is being conducted this week. If you receive an invitation to participate please take a few moments. If you are receiving invitations and your preference is to have someone else at your company complete the questionnaire please send us an email and we will make the change: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
If you would like to be added to the survey invitee list please send us an email (same address).
We have had a number of Executive level members upgrading their memberships to Premium. We are offering incentives to make the change. Contact our office if you have an interest. If you upgrade to Premium and you do not like the product we will adjust your membership and return any extra fees paid (at any point in time during your 1st year of Premium membership). Our Premium level members just received imports by product, port and country (website) and will receive results of our survey on Friday (website) and they will receive a number of special articles this week including our new analysis of the MSCI service center inventory and shipment data and our forecast for December through February.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update. Don’t forget to tell your suppliers, customers and steel industry friends about us. If they end up becoming our next new newsletter subscriber we will credit your company $100 which can be used for our workshops, conference (Steel Summit 2015), upgrades to your existing membership or for renewal (credit is good for 12 months from date of issue).
John Packard, Publisher
John Packard
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