Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
March 13, 2019
There are reports about a myriad of meetings between the USTR, Mexico and Canada as the sides try to come to some form of resolution regarding the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. I continue to hear that the move is to not reduce the traditional level of imports from these two countries. In my mind that means the U.S. is still pushing for quotas.
From time to time we will be publishing CRU-based articles with a “read more” link at the end. If you click on the read more link you will be taken to the CRU website where you can read the article in its entirety. You will not need to sign up or buy anything in order to access the full article. The affected article in this evening’s issue is about the turn in sheet prices and the CRU forecast for future HRC pricing. Of course, you are welcome to look around the CRU website and I am sure they would welcome you as a new customer for their products (they have hundreds…).
Registration is now open for the May 14-15 Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop. This workshop will be held in Davenport, Iowa, and will include a tour of the SSAB steel mill located just outside of Davenport. You can find more details on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/events/steel101
Tim Triplett is attending the Platts North American Steel Conference in Chicago and will report on what he heard there in Sunday’s issue.
A quick note to let everyone know I will be traveling all of next week as I head to Monterrey, Mexico, to visit Ternium, which has agreed to host one of our future Steel 101 workshops in Monterrey. I am going down to get the lay of the land, tour one of their mills and interview their CEO.
I have also heard from a mill in Europe, where we are working toward doing our first European Steel 101 workshop later this year.
To say I have been busy would be an understatement. We (CRU and SMU teams) are working on many new projects that include new conferences, workshops and products that will benefit our existing customers and attract new customers. Stay tuned.
If you are on a free trial and would like to become a new subscriber, you can do so by contacting Paige Mayhair at 724-720-1012 or by email at Paige@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Existing customers can renew or change your membership level through Paige.
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
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.