Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

Written by John Packard


As mentioned in an earlier article, steel buyers need to be aware of the potential for a new round of price increase announcements out of the domestic mills. The drop in scrap prices in the first few days of February followed by a sharp rise between now and then have the mills a bit on edge. They now believe scrap prices could jump again in March which would put pressure on their margins. Whether any new price increase will stick is another question entirely. We have a couple of new players looking for hot rolled orders and cold rolled and coated trial orders (Big River Steel and Acero Junction).

I want to take a moment to welcome our newest members (subscribers are called members here). I encourage all members of Steel Market Update to take advantage of us as a resource. I appreciate comments, questions and suggestions as many times they lead to a meaningful article. I am always looking for topics to research and new ways of thinking about the issues. I can be reached at: 770-596-6268 or by email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com

We received this from one of our customers late last week and Mr. Singh agreed to allow us to share his thoughts about Steel Market Update, “My name is Deep Singh and I am the steel global commodity manager for Johnson Controls. A lot of what I do is read up on the global steel industry, track costs and trends on various drivers, and review global economics. We have found that SMU is an excellent source for data and information.” 

We hope to see Mr. Singh at our SMU Steel Summit Conference later this year as he has advised that he is interested in attending.

A short note about our next Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop which will be held in Toledo, Ohio on April 11-12, 2017 and will tour the North Star BlueScope steel mill. The workshop is about two thirds full. We do have space for more people. If you are interested you can find more information on our website or you are welcome to contact one of our offices: 800-432-3475 or 706-216-2140.

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

Sincerely,

John Packard, Publisher

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