Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
October 4, 2019
I will be out of the office this entire week traveling first to Cincinnati as we conduct our sold-out Steel 101 workshop on Tuesday and Wednesday. Later in the week I will be traveling to Minnesota (where I see temperatures are supposed to be in the 30’s for highs) for a Board of Trustees meeting for Hamline University.
On Monday, SMU will send out invitations to participate in our early October flat rolled and plate steel market trends survey. Invitations will go out at 8 a.m. ET. If you receive an invitation, please take a few minutes to answer the first question at the end of the email, which will then take you to the entire questionnaire. If you used to get an invitation, and for some reason they have stopped – check your SPAM folder.
If you would like to be added to the invitation list, please send your request to info@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
We will send out our Service Center Inventories and Shipments “Flash Report” on Monday. There are some surprises contained in the report, which is provided only to data providers. The full report, which is provided to both data providers and our Premium level members, will be available on Oct. 14. If you are a service center who inventories prime flat rolled or plate steel products in the United States, and you would like to participate in our monthly analysis by providing your company’s data on a confidential basis, please contact me at John@SteelMarketUpdate.com or Estelle.Tran@crugroup.com. If you are an Executive level member and you would like to receive our breakdown of Service Center Shipments and Inventories data, please contact Paige Mayhair at Paige@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Registration is open for our January 2020 Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals Workshop, which will be held in Ontario, Calif. (Los Angeles area) on Jan. 7-8. Included will be a tour of the California Steel Industries (CSI) steel mill. Details can be found on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel101
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
Some of you have told me that the current market feels about as crazy as early 2021 when demand snapped back after the initial outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Others have said it might be more like late February/early March 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine – and, in the process, caused […]

Final Thoughts
To say we’ve entered a “Brave New World” since Jan. 20 might be an exaggeration, but we’ve definitely entered a different one.

Final Thoughts
I think it’s fair to say that the last few weeks – and last week especially – have been among the most intense for any of us covering steel (or aluminum).

Final Thoughts
A look at how SMU survey respondents are reacting to President Trump's recent actions on tariffs.

Final Thoughts
A lot of the changes basically entail rolling back what I’ll call, for fun, Section 232 Lite. S232 Lite resulted from watering down what I’ll call OG S232 – the one first imposed in March 2018 - with exemptions and exclusions over the years. Now, OG Section 232, is back with its across-the-board 25% tariffs against everyone.