Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
March 18, 2019
On my way back to the USA following a good meeting with the folks at Ternium in Mexico. More to follow later.
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Companies are beginning to register for our next Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop, which will be held in Davenport, Iowa, on May 14-15, with the kind cooperation of SSAB Americas. The classroom sessions on the making and marketing of steel products will be complemented by a tour of the SSAB mill. For anyone who has never seen a steel mill in operation, this will be an unforgettable experience.
It’s not too early to begin making plans for the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference, to be held Aug. 26-28 in Atlanta. This year the conference will begin with a Price Risk Management Workshop hosted by the CME Group beginning at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 26 in the Marriott hotel next to the Georgia International Convention Center, which will host the rest of the conference. To learn more and to register, go to: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel-Summit
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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.