Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
September 6, 2017
I want to recognize the Steel Market Update writers who have been doing stellar work through a grueling work schedule. Last week, it was our conference where we had all hands on deck in order to make sure the conference ran smoothly. This week and this coming weekend (and probably all of next week), the schedule will be tough due to Hurricane Irma as it is impacting our offices. So, I want to thank Tim Triplett, Sandy Williams, Brett Linton and Peter Wright for all of their hard work.
Steel Market Update headquarters is in Hobe Sound, Fla., and we are part of the mandatory evacuation area as Hurricane Irma moves towards the east coast of Florida. We have buttoned up our house and our office and we have left south Florida and are currently located in Gainesville, Fla., on the campus of the University of Florida. After driving 264 miles over seven hours, we have decided to hunker down here. There are essentially only two ways out of Florida if you are coming up from the south, I-95 on the east coast and the tollway to I-75 through the central and west coast. We are about 60 miles north of Orlando and a little west of the center of the state.
As of 5 p.m. today, the weather channel is reporting a split in the Euro and U.S. GFS models with the Euro moving more toward the west coast than the east and the U.S. still aiming at Miami. If it goes further west, our office and home will be better off. (However, we may not be so good sitting in Gainesville). If it aims for Miami, then our office and house are probably in trouble.
Stay tuned, Sunday should be a very interesting day for us…
In the meantime, Florida has their home opener football game at noon on Saturday. I was all set to go see if I could get a ticket and they cancelled the game (rightfully, in my opinion).
USS/POSCO advised their customers of their new galvanized zinc coating extras. We will try to do an analysis of the differences between the old and the new extras for Sunday evening’s issue.
As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
John Packard
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It’s official. U.S. Steel has made the first coil at Big River Steel 2 (BRS2). We congratulate the company and all the hard work that went into achieving that milestone. USS said BRS2 would begin shipments to customers this quarter. And we’re assuming those volumes will increase into Q1'25.
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Nucor said it is seeking $740 per short ton (st) for hot-rolled (HR) coil this week, up $20/st from last week. USS, meanwhile, is shooting for up $30/st for sheet products in general. (USS did not announce a target price for HR.)