Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
September 12, 2018
There have been many comments regarding the recent article I did on steel index methodologies. Included were comments/answers from two of the price providers mentioned at the beginning of the article who were unable to get to me prior to our publication deadline. I am going to do a follow-up article on Sunday evening. What I think I should do is publish an expanded version of what was already done and include the information gleaned from the two price providers not covered. Look for that in Sunday evening’s issue.
I want to give our readers the opportunity to ask questions about any of the indexes mentioned and their price assessments. With the ownership of SMU by CRU, I can speak freely with their team that handles HRC and other flat rolled and plate products. Recently, I have had questions from plate buyers, and CRU has worked with SMU to get answers back to those asking. If you have any questions regarding the various indexes and their price assessments, I will do my best to answer them or will work with the other providers. There is one provider that has refused to cooperate with SMU and answer any of our questions. So, at this point, if you have any questions for the American Metal Market, you will need to read their methodology online and hope that they will answer questions to you directly should you feel compelled to ask them.
I will include a video clip taken from our SMU Steel Summit Conference where CRU (Chris Houlden and Josh Spoores) and I discussed the differences in our indices, the differences in the methodologies and the importance of keeping the products isolated from one another so they maintain their independence and the value they were meant to provide to buyers and sellers of steel.
I am back in my office and I think I am here for the next seven days before I have to leave town again. If you have a question, suggestion or would just like to chat, feel free to contact me at 800-432-3475 or by email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com
As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, President & CEO
John Packard
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