Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
May 15, 2017
I have read reports that suggest the first fully integrated mill in Vietnam, Formosa Ha Tinh Steel, has received permission to test their #1 blast furnace. The Vietnamese government has approved the pollution control equipment and the company is going to be allowed to run the blast furnace on a six-month trial period. In July 2016, this same mill caused a devastating toxic spill that impacted 125 miles of coastline in the province of Ha Tinh and three other provinces in Central Vietnam, affecting the country’s fishing and tourism industries.
We have been working on a new section for members in our website. The section is entitled “Trade Cases” and we have the results of the corrosion resistant (CORE), cold rolled, hot rolled and cut-to-length plate (CTL) in the site. The data can be found under the Resources tab (although we may move it to the Analysis tab at a future date). Please take a look and advise what adjustments or new information you would like to see contained in the data. These pages were created based on a question from one of our member companies. SMU does react to questions and suggestions so please keep them coming: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
I will be traveling to Atlanta and then on to Chicago on Wednesday. I will be available by email should you have any need to reach me: John@SteelMarketUpate.com.
On Thursday I will be attending the Metal Industry sponsored Boy Scout Dinner at the Hilton Chicago Hotel at 720 South Michigan Avenue. If you would like to meet with me please shoot me an email with your cell number. I will email or text you back once I am able to review my schedule.
We had 16 new registrations for the SMU Steel Summit Conference which takes place on August 28, 29 & 30th. We are now over 300 registrations and well on our way to 500+ executives at this year’s event. We invite you to join us if you have not already made arrangements to do so. It will be the largest conference featuring “pure” steel people in North America this year. You can find out more details here or by contacting our office at 772-932-7538 or info@SteelMarketUpdate.com (or ask me if you are at the Boy Scout Dinner in Chicago on Thursday). There are 103 days to go…
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
Sometimes new presidential administrations hit the ground running. No time for change like the present. And sometimes new administrations blast off on a SpaceX rocket bound for Mars. There’s a big universe, and we’ve got a lot of flags to plant. Such seems to be the case with the new Trump administration.
Final Thoughts
What’s been the impact of tariff threats on prices and demand? In short, not much – or at least that was the case when I was writing this column on Sunday afternoon. Spot activity for Canadian material, for example, has been put on hold over the last few weeks while the market waits to see what the new tariff landscape might look like.
Final Thoughts
Next Monday marks the start of the second Trump administration. The limbo we’ve been living in since Election Day in early November will finally come to an end. What better way to take a look at what’s coming up in Washington, D.C., than a conversation with Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) President Philip K. Bell. He […]
Final Thoughts
It’s another week of big headlines and ho-hum pricing moves – which is to say the start of 2025 is looking a lot like the end of 2024. Scrap has settled up $20 per gross ton (gt). Steel prices, however, were a soft sideways this week. Chalk it up to uneven demand and abundant supply. And while we’re not aware of any major outages, some of you tell us that you’ve lost some shipping days here and there because of the recent cold snap.
Final Thoughts
I wrote in a Final Thoughts a few years ago that it seemed all the swans were black. More recently, I’ve been asked by some of you what the wildcards are for 2025. You could probably make the case that all the cards are wild now.