Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
February 7, 2018
We are working on an article about what companies are doing with the tax windfall they will be receiving this year. We have noticed a couple of companies like Mill Steel that are giving their employees a bonus check. We would like to include your company in our article should you be doing something special for your employees (raises, bonuses, etc.). Please send any comments, press releases to: Tim@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
We have a few spots left in our March 28-29 Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop, which will be held just outside of Chicago in Merrillville, Ind. Included will be a tour of the NLMK Portage steel mill. Details can be found on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/events/steel101.
The Department of Commerce submitted the Section 232 report and recommendations on steel on Jan. 11. By my calculations, we are 28 days into the 90 days that President Trump has to make his announcement.
Here are some of my travel plans over the next couple of months. If you would like to meet with me during the Port of Tampa Conference or the FMA Annual Meeting, please shoot me an email at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
I will be at the Port of Tampa Steel Conference on Feb. 19-21.
I will be at the FMA Annual Meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., at the end of March.
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
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.)
Final Thoughts
President-elect Donald Trump will officially retake the White House on Jan. 20. I’ve been getting questions about how his administration’s policies might reshape the steel industry and domestic manufacturing. I covered the tumult and norm busting of Trump's first term: Section 232, Section 301, USMCA - and that's just on the trade policy side of things. It's safe to say that we'll have no shortage of news in 2025 when it comes to trade and tariffs.