Final Thoughts
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Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
October 3, 2016
It is anything but a normal working day here on the east coast of Florida. Hurricane Matthew is forecast to be within 65 miles of my doorstep come Thursday and Friday of this week so today has been spent preparing to evacuate. No sense playing with Mother Nature. SMU HQ will be closed on Wednesday, Thursday and probably Friday but our phones are being forwarded to our Georgia office and Brett Linton.
We now have a waiting list for our Steel 101 workshop in Memphis, Tennessee. Our attendee list is the most interesting I have ever seen with people coming from as far away as Santiago, Chile. Our next workshop will be in late January/early February and we expect to have details in the coming days.
Also, please note that John Eckstein (metallurgist and Steel 101 instructor) and myself will be conducting a two-hour “mini” Steel 101 workshop at FABTECH in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday, November 18th.
We are also attending the ASD Annual Meeting which will also be in Las Vegas beginning on the 17th.
I will be reporting from the other side of the state of Florida on Thursday.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
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John Packard
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Final Thoughts
That’s not to say Section 232 shouldn’t be tightened up. Or that certain trade practices – even among our traditional allies – weren’t problematic. But when it comes to the reboot of Section 232, I do wonder whether there will be some unintended consequences.
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Final Thoughts
As February comes to a close this week, the scrap markets are poised for another – and perhaps more extreme – move upward in March. March is usually a month when scrap prices relent as winter’s impediments subside. That’s not the case this year. And this time, the driver of prices will be increased demand from mills along with restricted flows over the last two months.
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Final Thoughts
The US steel market has whipsawed upward on the prospect of expanded Section 232 tariffs of 25% being applied to imported steel - including downstream goods - on March 12. It seems pretty clear that domestic steel mills have the ear of the Trump administration when it comes to Section 232. The result? The much-anticipated Trump bump has finally arrived - and then some.
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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 […]
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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.