Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
July 24, 2019
A note today for those companies who will be renewing their memberships for our newsletter in the coming weeks. Please take some time to speak with Paige Mayhair at 724-720-8630 or by email: Paige@SteelMarketUpdate.com to see what options we now have for membership. We made significant changes in the way we are marketing our newsletters, which will allow for more of your employees to participate – in some cases at radically reduced rates.
When speaking to Paige, you should inquire about how many people can be on each membership level. We have two levels: Regional and Global, which allow an unlimited number of your employees to get the newsletter.
We no longer sell a single subscription to just one person. Our lowest level covers up to four people. SMU’s desire has always been to maximize the number of people within your company who can read our publication. Again, please contact Paige Mayhair at 724-720-1012 or by email: Paige@SteelMarketUpdate.com to see how she can meet your company’s needs.
I also highly encourage your company to consider upgrading to Premium level access if you have not already. As a Premium subscriber, you will receive additional newsletters specifically sent to Premium members.
We will roll out our Service Center Inventories Indices for flat rolled and plate at the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference. Beginning in September, our Premium level members will have access to portions of that data.
A note to steel analysts who might wish to relate our Service Center Inventories analysis to your clients. You will need to arrange a license agreement prior to doing so.
As we move later into the year, we are in conversation with our parent company, The CRU Group, regarding providing more content for our Premium members from the 200+ analysts that are spread across the world.
With 31 days to go, registrations continue to come in for the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference. I will no longer reference where we are regarding the number of attendees as I want to save the final total as a surprise for those attending this year’s event. The number and quality of companies already registered is quite impressive. We received new registrations over the past few days from: ArcelorMittal Dofasco, Flack Global Metals, Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc., JSW Steel USA Ohio, Inc., Nucor Steel-Gallatin, Polaris Industries, Jennmar, JN Linrose Mfg., Ferguson HVAC, Nucor Tubular Products, Cornerstone Building Brands, Argus Media, Commercial Steel Products and Platts.
To register for the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference – click here.
As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, President & CEO
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Final Thoughts
Final thoughts
Whether it’s the twists and turns of the presidential election, the U.S. Steel deal, or just what’s happening with the movement of steel pricing, there has been no shortage of stories for us to cover.
Final thoughts
Cleveland-Cliffs is seeking $750 per short ton (st) for hot-rolled coil. That’s $20/st above where the steelmaker had been. It’s also $30/st above Nucor, which is at $720/st this week. We've seen prices increase incrementally this week. SMU's HR price, for example, stands at $690/st on average, up $5/st from last week. The questions now are whether a number well above $700/st will stick, whether other mills will follow Cliffs, and whether there is enough demand to support higher prices.
Final thoughts
We got a little flack for adjusting our sheet momentum indicators to neutral last week. To be clear, we didn’t adjust them to lower. Part of the reason we moved them to neutral was because there are some unusual cross-currents in the current market. On the news side, you could make a case that there should nowhere to go but up.
Final thoughts
I think all of us know that sometimes courtships go wrong. A misplaced word or deed and soon things can go sideways, and not in the prices sense. Such could be the case with Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel’s play for U.S. Steel.
Final thoughts
We’re starting to see some impacts of the big trade case filed last week against imports of coated flat-rolled steel from 10 nations. Namely, we’ve heard that a range of traders have stopped offering material from Vietnam. An alleged dumping margin of nearly 160% will do that. Especially amid chatter of critical circumstances.