Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
November 3, 2017
Some quick final thoughts this evening – I will be traveling tomorrow (Monday) to Chicago to attend FABTECH and to teach a mini-version of our Steel 101 workshop (they call it Steel 101: Mill to Fabricator) on Tuesday afternoon. John Eckstein and I will be in Room 502B in McCormick Place, and the workshop is from 1:30 until 3:30 PM. The workshop is free to those registered to attend FABTECH.
Tim Triplett will be at FABTECH on Monday, so if you see him wandering the halls, take a moment to say hello.
If you are going to be at FABTECH on Tuesday and would like to spend a moment chatting with me, the best thing to do is to send me either a text (770-596-6268) or an email John@SteelMarketUpdate.com to see what my schedule looks like.
We should have our final dates set for our next Steel 101 workshop, which will be held in the Chicago area as we are touring the NLMK Portage, Ind., facility as part of the workshop. The workshop will be in March of next year.
Another quick reminder to put our 2018 SMU Steel Summit Conference on your calendars and company budgets. The conference will be held on Aug. 27, 28 and 29 at the Georgia International Convention Center (GICC) where we have been for the past four years.
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
As February comes to a close this week, the scrap markets are poised for another – and perhaps more extreme – move upward in March. March is usually a month when scrap prices relent as winter’s impediments subside. That’s not the case this year. And this time, the driver of prices will be increased demand from mills along with restricted flows over the last two months.

Final Thoughts
The US steel market has whipsawed upward on the prospect of expanded Section 232 tariffs of 25% being applied to imported steel - including downstream goods - on March 12. It seems pretty clear that domestic steel mills have the ear of the Trump administration when it comes to Section 232. The result? The much-anticipated Trump bump has finally arrived - and then some.

Final Thoughts
Some of you have told me that the current market feels about as crazy as early 2021 when demand snapped back after the initial outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Others have said it might be more like late February/early March 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine – and, in the process, caused […]

Final Thoughts
To say we’ve entered a “Brave New World” since Jan. 20 might be an exaggeration, but we’ve definitely entered a different one.

Final Thoughts
I think it’s fair to say that the last few weeks – and last week especially – have been among the most intense for any of us covering steel (or aluminum).