Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
August 7, 2017
We have been incredibly busy this week as we work toward getting all of the pieces of the SMU Steel Summit Conference puzzle to fit together as seamlessly as possible. There are a number of firsts for this conference, but I am going to wait until the conference starts for many of them to be revealed to our attendees.
I was going through the speaker’s list with Ray Culley the other day. We have a very strong lineup. There are only a couple of speakers that I do not know well or that I haven’t personally seen speak before. Those came highly recommended, so fingers crossed they will meet or exceed our expectations.
For those speakers who have been there before, the heat is on. The expectation is for great presentations and well-thought-out commentary.
The number of attendees who are directly involved with the buying or selling of steel is amazing. I am sure there is no other steel conference around the globe that can boast the number of buying and selling decision makers that we will have in Atlanta in 19 days.
I mentioned Ray Culley who truly deserves a pat on the back for the hard work he has put into this conference. Ray knows how many hours he and I have put into this conference going back to September 2016. For those who are curious, we have already started working on the 2018 conference, which will be held in Atlanta on Aug. 27, 28 and 29 of next year. Mark your calendars now as you won’t want to miss it.
Tim Triplett is doing well as he transitions from his role at Metal Center News to his new role here at Steel Market Update. We have definitely thrown some new things his way and he is learning about the wide range of topics we cover (and getting used to how quickly we react to an ever-changing market). Tim will be in Atlanta along with almost all of our SMU staff and instructors.
I keep harping on our SMU Events App – it is truly the one thing you want to spend some time with before attending our conference. If you have problems/questions, contact Brett Linton (Brett@SteelMarketUpdate.com) or by phone 706-216-2140.
I know, I know – too much conference stuff for those of you who are not attending this year. We have less than three weeks to go and then I will get back to trying to say something “interesting” or “worthwhile” in my final thoughts.
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’ll always have Paris,” as the famous line in Casablanca goes. And this month, the global steel industry did as well. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Steel Committee met in the City of Lights earlier this month. There was also a meeting of the Global Forum addressing excess steel capacity.
Final Thoughts
It’s once again A Tale of Two Cities in the steel market. Some are almost euphoric about Trump’s victory. Others, some rather bearish, are more focused on the day-to-day market between now and Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.
Final Thoughts
One of the perhaps unintentional perks of being a trade journalist is the opportunity to travel and cover an array of industry conferences and events. Some I've attended have been at fun locations, like Palm Springs and Tampa, Fla. Others have been in more practical locations, like SMU’s Steel Summit in Atlanta and American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) meetings in Washington, D.C.
Final Thoughts
t this point in the game I think what we can say about Nippon Steel’s proposed buy of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel is that it will go through, it won’t go through, or the outcome will be something new and completely unexpected. Then again, I’m probably still missing a few options.
Final Thoughts
President-elect Donald Trump continues to send shockwaves through the political establishment (again). And steel markets and ferrous scrap markets continue to be, well, anything but shocking. As the French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote in 1849, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." (I thought the quote might have been Yankees catcher Yogi Berra in 1949. Google taught me something new today.)