Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
May 10, 2017
As I mentioned in one of the articles in tonight’s edition of SMU, I have been speaking with trade attorney Lewis Leibowitz on a whole host of subjects. We will be working on an article to help our readers better understand the ramifications of the Section 232 review (national security) and what powers the President of the United States has to respond to the Department of Commerce findings. The steel and manufacturing industries could be in for a shock, or, maybe nothing will happen at all.
I have also been asked when the annual reviews are due for CORE, cold rolled and hot rolled antidumping and countervailing duties. I am going to check with Lewis Leibowitz on this subject as well. My gut feel is that we will be seeing some of the reviews at about the time of our conference (in case you needed another reason to attend).
I am extremely happy knowing that I will be working with Tim Triplett beginning in early June. I think, within a very short period of time you will notice that our articles are better written and the subjects covered will be expanded. Tim covered not only steel for Metal Center News but also aluminum and copper. He has worked extensively with the metals service center industry but also with manufacturers and toll processors. His contacts are much different than mine which will add even more strength to our content. For those of you who will be at the Boy Scout Dinner in Chicago next week both Tim and I will be there. We also plan on being in New York City at the end of June (26th and 27th) and I hope to be able to introduce Tim to as many steel industry buyers, sellers and executives as possible. If you would like to get on our calendar while we are in New York please send me an email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com
We still have plenty of room at our Steel 101 workshop in California. We don’t get to the West Coast very often so I highly recommend those on the “other” coast to register for this workshop. I also recommend the workshop to those on the East Coast, Midwest, and South since the Ontario, CA location is right next to an international airport unlike many of our other workshops that are located away from major airports. You can find details about the workshop, costs and how to register on our website.
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
We had an October surprise here at SMU on Wednesday. I was working from the CRU office in Pittsburgh, and the internet connection briefly went out. As luck would have it, that happened smack in the middle of a live Community Chat webinar. Fortunately, my colleague David Schollaert stepped in, Zekelman Industries CEO Barry Zekelman rolled with the punches – and the show went on. Could there be any more October surprises in store for us and for the steel market?
Final Thoughts
We just wrapped up another Steel 101 workshop, easily the most hands-on industry workshop on steelmaking and market fundamentals, in this humble opinion. Last week on Tuesday and Wednesday, SMU’s Steel 101 was held in Starkville, Miss.
Final Thoughts
Everybody has an opinion about politics these days. More importantly for our readers, though, every business has a bottom line. A popular question in our most recent steel buyers survey asked how uncertainty around the upcoming US presidential election could affect that line.
Final Thoughts
I’m trying to make sure this is not a TL;DR Final Thoughts. As a journalism school professor once told me, ‘No one but your mom reads more than 1,000 words.’ Also, as the old adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand as well. With that in mind, below are a couple of charts that I think go a long way toward explaining how prices and lead times have been relatively stable despite concerns about demand.
Final Thoughts
It’s another week of big headlines for the world writ large – an expanding war in the Middle East, another potentially catastrophic hurricane – and not much going on in the world of steel prices. “Call me Stevie Wonder, I see nothing.” That’s how one service center executive described the current sheet market. There seems to be almost a competition among some of our Community Chat guests and contributors to outdo each other in flowery ways to say, “