Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
February 15, 2016
A reminder that our next Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop will be just outside of Toledo, Ohio and we will be touring a mill as one of the best run mini-mills in the country – North Star Bluescope Steel. You can find more details about our program, instructors, hotel and registration on our website. This workshop is excellent for new hires, people who are rising through the ranks (or expected to rise), new executives that may have come from outside the industry, someone wanting to learn more about the steel making process as well as how steel is sold and some of the fundamentals that affect the markets. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us at: Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
I will be in Tampa tomorrow afternoon/evening attending the Port of Tampa Steel Conference. If you would like to set up a specific time to meet with me during the conference you can send me an email at: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com or text me at: 770-596-6268. I will return to our offices on Friday of this week.
Over the past month LME zinc prices have moved higher. In the middle of January we saw zinc trading around $0.66 per pound. This week it has been trading just above $0.75 per pound.
Aluminum has been trading in a much tighter range with a low around $0.66 per pound in mid-January to today’s $0.6927 per pound.
I want to thank Big River Steel for coming on as a Corporate Sponsor to this year’s Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta at the end of August (29-31st). They join our other sponsors committed to date: Pacesetter Steel, Steel Dynamics and Magic Coil Products. We have more sponsorship as well as exhibition spaces available. You can find information on our website or you can request information by sending an email to: Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
I also want to welcome our newest member companies to Steel Market Update. If you have any questions, would like to learn more about website access and the data we house there or if you have any suggestions please do not hesitate to contact us at: Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by phone: 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.