Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
April 22, 2015
We appear much closer to the crossroads than I think many of you realize. Reliance, Nucor and Steel Dynamics spoke about the changes coming in their own way during their earnings conference calls. Reliance prodded the mills to raise prices – now. SDI spoke about their attorneys waiting for the right time before they can file successful dumping suits. Nucor talked about keeping foreign steel at bay and that it may be premature to file price increases. We live in interesting times and my personal opinion is everyone in the flat rolled steel industry needs to keep their eyes, ears and minds open to change.
I will go into more detail on what I mean in Sunday night’s newsletter.
Our Premium level members will see that this week’s flat rolled steel market survey Power Point will be posted on our website on Friday afternoon. We added a couple new questions this week regarding end users looking to lock in future orders at today’s pricing. Seems the results were mixed between end users and service centers…
We are getting down to three weeks before out next Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop will be held in Merriville, Indiana (outside of Chicago). We encourage both our members and non-members alike to take some time to learn more about what we are trying to teach and how it may fit with your company or individual needs. Our program is on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com or you are welcome to contact our office with any questions you might have: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or 800-432-3475.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
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.