Final Thoughts

January 16, 2017

Our next Steel 101 workshop will be held in Toledo, Ohio on April 11-12th. Included will be a tour of the North Star Bluescope steel mill. We should have details and registration available on our website by the end of the week.

Late today I received a note from one of my pig iron sources. He advised that recent buys of pig iron by Nucor and SDI were in the range of $330 per metric ton, CFR NOLA/USEC (New Orleans/US East Coast). The buys were reported to be out of Russia and the Ukraine. Our source advised us that pig iron pricing can potentially go higher due to shortages of coking coal in Russia and the Ukraine. At the same time demand for pig iron out of Italy and Turkey has waned lately. Ultimately, that will weigh on prices but, for now pig iron pricing is quite firm.

I was trading emails over the course of the day with one of my contacts in Asia and a hedge fund manager regarding China. Yes, iron ore is within a couple of dollars of the high and China is attempting to remove induction furnaces as sources of supply (due to pollution). However, when considering what is happening in China one has to remember that logic does not work the same in China as it may here…

As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.

John Packard, Publisher