Final Thoughts
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Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
April 30, 2018
It’s May 1st and a new month has begun. This month is going to be an important one for Steel Market Update and our readers. We will be sending out a link to a questionnaire as we strive to improve our product for our members. We are trying to learn more about who you are, what you like about SMU and how we can better serve your needs. We will be sending a link out in a special issue of SMU later this week.
For the steel service centers who are participating in our flat rolled and plate steel inventories index, be advised that I will be going out with my first request for data on Thursday, May 3, as I would like to produce our “Flash Report” by no later than early next week. If you are a service center or wholesaler who inventories prime flat rolled or plate steel and would like to be part of our confidential analysis, please send me a note: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com with any questions that you might have for me. As a data provider, you will receive our Flash Report as well as the full report, which will come out approximately one week after the Flash Report. Beginning in July 2018, the service center inventories full report will only be available to Premium level members and the Flash Report will only go to participating service centers/wholesalers.
I got a call yesterday from a manufacturer who said one of his steel mill suppliers told him he needed to attend our SMU Steel Summit Conference. “I was told if I was going to attend any conference, this was the one to go to.” Thank you to the mill who recommended our conference and to the manufacturer who followed through and registered. He is one of the 400 executives already signed up, with 117 days still to go before our Aug. 27 start date. You can check our website for the most up-to-date listing of companies already registered for this year’s event.
We encourage our readers to recommend our conference to your steel suppliers or customers. Here are the key items to tell them:
- SMU Steel Summit Conference – THE conference to see and to be seen. Spread over three days.
- Aug. 27-29 – at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta, which is right next to the Atlanta Jackson-Hartsfield International Airport (ATL).
- The hotels are right next to the convention center and all can be reached by a free SkyTrain from the airport. Transit time is no more than 5 minutes.
- The cost to attend is $1,275 per person with $100 discounts given to SMU subscriber companies and an additional $100 per person if two or more people from your company attend.
- You can find more information by clicking the video below, visiting SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel-Summit, or contacting us at 772-932-7538.
Speaking of Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop – we now have just two or three seats available for our June 5 and 6 workshop in Memphis, Tenn. This workshop will be a sellout, as have the last 10 workshops we have conducted. A special shout out to Nucor Hickman and Nucor-Yamato for allowing SMU to tour their facilities as part of our workshop. Details and registration can be found at www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel101.
A quick note about rooms for the SMU Steel Summit Conference: The Atlanta Airport Marriott Gateway hotel only has 20-25 rooms left on our room block. Once the room block is complete, we will not be able to add any more rooms and the rates for that hotel will be at Marriott’s discretion. The Atlanta Airport Renaissaince Gateway hotel also has about 20-25 rooms remaining. The Atlanta Airport SpringHill Suites Gateway hotel has about 50 rooms available. We expect these rooms to all be gone within the next two or three weeks – months before the conference is to begin. We are going to add a fourth hotel, a Marriott, which is located a couple of miles from the convention center. We are working with Marriott to have a bus that will go back and forth between the hotel and the convention center. We will advise more details on this hotel when we are close to being completely sold out of the Gateway hotels. You can book the hotels by using the following Marriott reservation number: 800-236-2427 and ask for the Steel Market Update group rate.
Lots of news this evening. Be sure to pay attention to the Appeals Court ruling regarding “significant transformation” and be aware that this ruling is separate from the China/Vietnam circumvention case, which will be announced later this week. We should have an article on that decision in Thursday’s issue of Steel Market Update.
As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
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John Packard
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Final thoughts
Sheet prices didn’t roar back after Labor Day. But steel market news sure came out of the gate strong (or maybe chaotically is the better way to put it). First, the nearly $15-billion proposed sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel exploded into the news. And when I say exploded, I mean that all sides seem to be escalating things now.
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Final thoughts
Welcome back from Labor Day, from Steel Summit, and from whatever fun you might have had over the long weekend. Personally, I enjoyed camping with friends and family near Starved Rock. No one starved, there were no major injuries, and we enjoyed the many splendors of Mystical Fire. (Speaking of which, does that have industrial uses? But I digress.)
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Final thoughts
I want to say a huge ‘thank you’ from all of us at SMU to all of you (more than 1,500!) who attended Steel Summit this year. We appreciate you taking time out of busy schedules to join us – whether that was up on stage, submitting thoughtful questions, or catching up over a drink and bite to eat. Also, a bit shoutout to everyone at SMU and at CRU who made this event possible. It’s no understatement to say that we have a fantastic team.
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Final thoughts
Day one and two of SMU's Steel Summit 2024 are officially in the books. We covered a lot of ground, and the agenda sure did deliver.
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Final thoughts
The big show is just about here. SMU Steel Summit will be getting underway on Monday. Where does the networking begin? I’d say at the airport. So don’t forget your business cards. And it can't hurt to wear a company golf shirt.