Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
September 19, 2016
I got a note from Eddie Lehner, the CEO of Ryerson who attended our Steel Summit Conference for the first time this year. He dropped me a note today about our conference, “The SMU Conference is flat out worth attending. An unusual combination of candor, depth and subject matter relevance throughout the steel value chain makes this conference unique as it stays true to substance and diversity of opinion. The location and facilities were about as good as it gets as well. We’ll be at the SMU conference next year.” Thank you for the kind words. We are already working on next year’s conference in the hope we can outdo ourselves once again. Mark your calendars for August 28-30, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia.
The first ENFORCE Act complaint has been filed by Wheatland Tube. What is interesting (or will be interesting) is what happens from here. With most trade cases there is transparency in the proceedings. There are no such protections set up for the ENFORCE Act. I am quite sure the domestic mills will be watching and waiting to see if the Wheatland Tube complaint is successful.
Arkansas looks like it will be the biggest steel producing state as Big River Steel comes online and now Nucor is building a new cold mill which will be able to produce advanced high strength steels and motor lamination steels.
One of the conversion mills told me today, “We had good bookings again. Customers settled down and felt the price was fair and shot some orders over. Demand is still good [coated products]. Inventories are higher than we would like to see but not high relative to history or overall demand.” We were told the “same mills driving numbers down.”
We are in the middle of our mid-September flat rolled steel market trends survey. If you received an invitation but haven’t had time to click on the button to respond please take a few minutes to do so. We will close out the survey on Thursday so our analysis is available to our Premium level members by Friday afternoon.
We are literally down to having one (maybe two) seats left for our next Steel 101 workshop which is being held in Memphis, Tennessee on November 15-16 with a tour of Big River Steel as part of the workshop. Details can be found on our website or you can contact our office 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
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Some of you have told me that the current market feels about as crazy as early 2021 when demand snapped back after the initial outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Others have said it might be more like late February/early March 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine – and, in the process, caused […]
Final Thoughts
To say we’ve entered a “Brave New World” since Jan. 20 might be an exaggeration, but we’ve definitely entered a different one.
Final Thoughts
I think it’s fair to say that the last few weeks – and last week especially – have been among the most intense for any of us covering steel (or aluminum).
Final Thoughts
A look at how SMU survey respondents are reacting to President Trump's recent actions on tariffs.
Final Thoughts
A lot of the changes basically entail rolling back what I’ll call, for fun, Section 232 Lite. S232 Lite resulted from watering down what I’ll call OG S232 – the one first imposed in March 2018 - with exemptions and exclusions over the years. Now, OG Section 232, is back with its across-the-board 25% tariffs against everyone.