Final Thoughts
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Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
May 4, 2018
Some quick housekeeping regarding this week’s schedule. On Monday I will be going out with two requests via email. The first will be for those service centers who participate in our service center inventories index. I hope to have those emails out to each of the distributors between 7:30 and 8:30 AM ET.
Around 9 AM ET we will be sending a single page newsletter to all our members. Embedded in the article will be a link to a short questionnaire. We request that everyone spend just a few minutes to click on the link and respond to our inquiries. There are going to be changes coming to Steel Market Update as we gear up for a period of growth. We want to make sure that we continue to offer the services enjoyed by our readers and to develop content based on your needs.
On Thursday Tim Triplett and I will be at the Hyatt in Chicago for the Metal Industry Boy Scout Dinner. We look forward to seeing many of our customers there and meeting some new people who have not yet been introduced to Steel Market Update. If you would like to speak with us prior to the dinner, please send one of us and email: Tim@SteelMarketUpdate.com or John@SteelMarketUpdate.com. We should be in the hotel shortly after 2 PM CT.
I want to take a moment to thank Lewis Leibowitz for all of the time and energy he has been putting into the almost daily trade updates he has been doing for Steel Market Update over the past few weeks. If you have questions for Lewis that cannot wait until our conference at the end of August when he will be at our SMU Steel Summit 2018, you can send them to me and I will forward them on to Lewis along with comments/questions that I might have on the same subject. As I said, Lewis will be at our conference for all three days (Aug 27-29) and he is kicking off our Pre-Summit program on Monday, August 27th at 1:30 PM ET.
Philip Bell of the Steel Manufacturers Association will also be speaking to our conference and I hope that Mr. Bell will be available during the entire conference. He will be speaking on a slightly different topic than what many of you might expect from him, or, may have heard him speak to in the past.
We will also have Grant Aldonas, former Under-Secretary of Commerce during the Bush Administration. Aldonas was intimately involved the last time we had restrictions on steel (Section 201).
If you have trade-related issues our conference will be helpful to you and your company in many ways – including networking with other companies facing the same issues as you.
If there are others in the industry that you think might benefit from attending our conference please send them our way. If they have questions I am personally available to speak with them. They can reach me at 800-432-3475.
You can learn more about this year’s conference on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel-Summit or by contacting our offices 772-932-7538 or my office: 800-432-3475.
Our Memphis Steel 101 workshop is SOLD OUT and we are adding people to a wait list should we get any cancellations. I will have more about where our next Steel 101 workshop will be (we are working on something special…) in the coming days. Stay tuned.
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.)
![](https://www.steelmarketupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/11/SMU-Steel-Summit.png)
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.