Analysis
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
July 24, 2017
Wilbur Ross will be on Capital Hill again this week as he advises the House Ways and Means Committee on the status of his Section 232 investigation. It seems like the longer the market waits for an announcement (or at least the recommendations from the Department of Commerce) the less enthusiastic people are that anything will happen. There appears to be a surge of opinions against any across the board tariffs or quotas and Trump appears to be listening. If he doesn’t do anything and lets the steel industry sway in the breeze who knows what will happen.
I had a great conversation with Jack Bellissimo of Hubbell, Inc., Gaurav Chhibbar who just changed jobs at Cargill (now is a freight trader) and Justin Philipp of Pacesetter late last week. These three gentlemen are all right around 30 years old and can speak to the subject of attracting, hiring, training and maintaining young workers in your business. I think you will be very pleased with their program which is scheduled to begin at 2 PM on Wednesday, August 30th. The program will conclude at 3 PM and you will have plenty of time to make your 4:30 PM or later flight out of Atlanta.
Registrations continue to come in with Morrison Products, Kingspan, Galvasid, Interstate Steel, ITW, Steel & Pipe Supply, Worthington Industries, Precoat Metals and Big River Steel pushing our registrations beyond 534 executives which means this SMU Steel Summit Conference will be the best attended conference in our history by more than 100 people. If you would like to add your name to the list you can do so by clicking here or by contacting our offices at 772-932-7538 or 706-216-2140. You are also welcome to contact me directly at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com. By the way we have attendees coming from Poland, Egypt, Ecuador, Mexico, Canada, United Kingdom and from coast to coast in the United States.
I also want to remind everyone that our next Steel 101 workshop will be held in Ft. Wayne, Indiana and will include a tour of the Steel Dynamics (SDI) Butler mini-mill. Details can be found on our website. If you have any questions about our Steel 101 workshop please contact me at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com
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 Analysis
SMU Survey: Mills less negotiable on spot prices
Most steel buyers responding to our market survey this week reported that domestic mills are considerably less willing to talk price on sheet and plate products than they were in recent weeks.
SMU Survey: Lead times tick higher
Steel mill lead times marginally extended for both sheet and plate products this week, according to responses from SMU’s latest market survey.
North American auto assemblies slipped in September
North American auto assemblies declined in September, down 5.1% vs. August. And assemblies were also down 1% year on year.
Final Thoughts
SMU’s hot-rolled coil price increased for a third consecutive week. And the gains were more pronounced this time following a price hike initiated on Friday by NLMK USA.
Final Thoughts
SMU digs into the vault to look back at an old survey, and to tell what exciting things are still to come.