Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
June 15, 2018
I got a note from one of our readers who pointed out that Sept. 18 & 19 are Holy Days on the Jewish calendar. These were the days selected for our first SMU 201: Intro to Advanced High Strength & Other New Steels workshop, which is going to be held at AK Steel Research and Innovation Center (RIC) in Ohio. We are reviewing the dates with AK Steel to see if we are able to shift the timing and will advise.
A reminder about my travel schedule as it will be a bit hectic over the next couple of weeks. I will be in my office on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Wednesday I will be in Pittsburgh visiting the CRU Group USA offices and meeting their staff. I will be back in the office on Thursday and Friday. Next week, the week of June 25, I will be traveling to New York City where on Monday afternoon I will participate in a free CRU Group briefing. Our members are invited to attend and can register by clicking on this link. Later that afternoon, I will be hosting the Bank of America Merrill Lynch dinner as Timna Tanners will be traveling and unable to host the event this year.
The following day, Tuesday, June 26, I do have a couple of openings to meet with people who are in New York to attend other steel meetings. If you would like to meet, send me an email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com
On Tuesday evening, Diana and I are flying overnight to London, England, where we will be meeting with the management and staff at the CRU Group headquarters for the balance of the week. We will be returning to the U.S.A. on Monday, July 2, but will not return to our offices until July 3.
Due to the Fourth of July falling on a Wednesday, I have decided we will not publish on Tuesday, July 3. This means we will produce our flat rolled and plate steel indices on Thursday, July 5. We will return to our normal schedule on July 5.
Tomorrow morning (June 18), we will begin collecting responses from our mid-June flat rolled and plate steel survey. If you receive an “Invitation to Participate” around 8 a.m. ET, please take a few minutes to respond to the first question, which is located at the bottom of the email. Once answered, you will be taken to the rest of the questions. The survey usually takes 3 to 5 minutes to complete.
As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, President & CEO
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Sometimes new presidential administrations hit the ground running. No time for change like the present. And sometimes new administrations blast off on a SpaceX rocket bound for Mars. There’s a big universe, and we’ve got a lot of flags to plant. Such seems to be the case with the new Trump administration.
Final Thoughts
What’s been the impact of tariff threats on prices and demand? In short, not much – or at least that was the case when I was writing this column on Sunday afternoon. Spot activity for Canadian material, for example, has been put on hold over the last few weeks while the market waits to see what the new tariff landscape might look like.
Final Thoughts
Next Monday marks the start of the second Trump administration. The limbo we’ve been living in since Election Day in early November will finally come to an end. What better way to take a look at what’s coming up in Washington, D.C., than a conversation with Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) President Philip K. Bell. He […]
Final Thoughts
It’s another week of big headlines and ho-hum pricing moves – which is to say the start of 2025 is looking a lot like the end of 2024. Scrap has settled up $20 per gross ton (gt). Steel prices, however, were a soft sideways this week. Chalk it up to uneven demand and abundant supply. And while we’re not aware of any major outages, some of you tell us that you’ve lost some shipping days here and there because of the recent cold snap.
Final Thoughts
I wrote in a Final Thoughts a few years ago that it seemed all the swans were black. More recently, I’ve been asked by some of you what the wildcards are for 2025. You could probably make the case that all the cards are wild now.