Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
January 3, 2018
We are hearing that ferrous scrap prices will rise by $20 to $30 per gross ton this month. Negotiations continue at most of the mills, but we did learn of one Detroit mill settling yesterday up $20 on primes (busheling/bundles) and up $30 on the other grades. The cold weather, strong exports and low inventory levels at the steel mills are pushing prices higher. We will have more on the scrap market and where things settled in Sunday evening’s issue.
The week has started with a bang as Nucor, U.S. Steel, NLMK USA and AK Steel all have announced $40 per ton price increases, while the West Coast mills of California Steel Industries and USS/POSCO have taken their prices up by $30 per ton. Reaction from steel buyers and actual price offers will be coming to light in the coming days. We heard from a few buyers of spot hot rolled being offered anywhere from $32.50/cwt ($650 per ton) to $35.00/cwt ($700 per ton) depending on the mill and location. It will take one to two weeks before we are able to determine if the increases “stick” (and what does “stick” mean).
For those of you who are thinking of registering for our Steel 101 workshop, it will be held in Merrillville, Ind., on March 28-29. If you have any issues with the registration system or are unsure if your registration payment was made, please contact our office at 772-932-7538. We have had some glitches in the registration system for both our Steel 101 workshop and our newsletter subscriptions. The issues are related to our new software upgrade, and our developers are working on them.
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
SMU's hot-rolled (HR) coil price slipped this week to $685 per short ton (st) on average. We also adjusted our sheet momentum indicators to lower for the first time since July.
Final Thoughts
When a mapmaker constructs a map, it’s always to the contours of the land. Or sea. That is, the mapmaker doesn’t say, “Look, these rocks really don’t belong here, so I’m not going to include them in the harbor map.” Uncharted rocks, sink ships (along with loose lips).
Final Thoughts
We had an October surprise here at SMU on Wednesday. I was working from the CRU office in Pittsburgh, and the internet connection briefly went out. As luck would have it, that happened smack in the middle of a live Community Chat webinar. Fortunately, my colleague David Schollaert stepped in, Zekelman Industries CEO Barry Zekelman rolled with the punches – and the show went on. Could there be any more October surprises in store for us and for the steel market?
Final Thoughts
We just wrapped up another Steel 101 workshop, easily the most hands-on industry workshop on steelmaking and market fundamentals, in this humble opinion. Last week on Tuesday and Wednesday, SMU’s Steel 101 was held in Starkville, Miss.
Final Thoughts
Everybody has an opinion about politics these days. More importantly for our readers, though, every business has a bottom line. A popular question in our most recent steel buyers survey asked how uncertainty around the upcoming US presidential election could affect that line.