Contributed by Justin Philipp, People Area Director, Pacesetter Steel It’s no secret that the steel industry is antiquated. Many times, the processing equipment is older than the operator and the same mills have been opened, closed and renamed time and again. Not only is the steel industry plagued by “old” operations issues, the HR issues […]
Millennials are the steel industry’s future and are anxious to solve problems and get results. Attendees who remained for the final presentation at the SMU Steel Summit heard an eye-opening discussion on just what the millennial generation is seeking and how the steel industry can recruit and retain talent from this important demographic. Three young […]
Tomorrow, Monday, Aug. 28, the steel event of the year will kick off in Atlanta. With over 650 steel and manufacturing executives registered, expectations are for this conference to truly be the most dynamic steel conference in North America for 2017. Welcome to the Steel Market Update Steel Summit Conference. This is what the fuss […]
The 2017 SMU Steel Summit Conference Events App is now available for all attendees, sponsors and exhibitors to download and use. The App is where you find all the most up-to-date information about the conference, what you work from to network with other attendees, and what you will use to get the speaker presentations after […]
One of the reasons why the SMU Steel Summit Conference is successful and growing at a time when most conferences are not is due to the options we are given through the support of our sponsors and exhibitors. The cost to put on a three-day conference is truly staggering. Nonetheless, one of our goals has […]
By: Jack Bellissimo of Hubbell, Inc. The information technology culture is growing rapidly all around us and everyday new innovations are being developed. What is it about the IT or computer science job field that is so exciting? When was the last time we took a step back and analyzed what the allure is? What […]
By: Jack Bellissimo of Hubbell, Inc. The information technology culture is growing rapidly all around us and everyday new innovations are being developed. What is it about the IT or computer science job field that is so exciting? When was the last time we took a step back and analyzed what the allure is? What […]
The 2017 SMU Steel Summit Conference Events App is now available for all attendees, sponsors and exhibitors to download and use. The App is where you find all the most up-to-date information about the conference, what you work from to network with other attendees, and what you will use to get the speaker presentations after […]
Ferrous scrap prices are up about $20 per ton across the board on strong domestic demand and scrap export markets “that are on fire,” say SMU’s scrap sources. One scrap metal processor with locations across the country reports HMS at $300, shred at $315 and busheling at $390 per gross ton for August delivery. Export […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) regularly receives questions from those who have already registered to attend our SMU Steel Summit Conference, as well as those who are contemplating attending (there is still time and space). In order to help both groups, here are some of the Frequently Asked Questions about our conference: General Conference Questions Q: […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) regularly receives questions from those who have already registered to attend our SMU Steel Summit Conference, as well as those who are contemplating attending (there is still time and space). In order to help both groups, here are some of the Frequently Asked Questions about our conference: General Conference Questions Q: […]
On Monday, August 28, the steel event of the year will kick off in Atlanta. With less than four weeks to go and 575 steel and manufacturing executives already registered, expectations are for this conference to truly be the most dynamic steel conference in North America for 2017. Welcome to the Steel Market Update Steel […]
On Monday, Aug. 28, the steel event of the year will kick off in Atlanta. With four weeks to go and 560 steel and manufacturing executives already registered, expectations are for this conference to truly be the most dynamic steel conference in North America for 2017. Welcome to the 7th Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel […]
Wilbur Ross will be on Capital Hill again this week as he advises the House Ways and Means Committee on the status of his Section 232 investigation. It seems like the longer the market waits for an announcement (or at least the recommendations from the Department of Commerce) the less enthusiastic people are that anything […]
The 2017 SMU Steel Summit Conference Events App is now available for all attendees, sponsors and exhibitors to download and use. The App is where you find all the most up-to-date information about the conference, what you work from to network with other attendees and what you will use to get the speaker presentations after […]
The 2017 SMU Steel Summit Conference Events App is now available for all attendees, sponsors and exhibitors to download and use. The App is where you find all the most up-to-date information about the conference, what you work from to network with other attendees, and what you will use to get the speaker presentations after […]
This is my gut feeling, my opinion based on what I have been reading and watching in the news like everyone else. The world is trying to figure out if President Trump is going to start a trade war and the first bullets are made with flat rolled steel, pipe and long products. I am […]
I have received a number of comments on the LinkedIn posts that I have put out there over the weekend. I shared our “Black Swan” article on my personal LinkedIn account as well as our Steel Market Update LinkedIn group account. I also received a question about the “average margin for a service center” that […]
For those who missed my comment earlier, Acero Junction hot strip mill is rolling at close to full right now. Our sources are advising us that the mill is running about 50,000 tons of HRC. They have prime slabs on the floor and incoming from Brazil (one of the reasons why semi-finished imports continue to […]
Scrap, scrap, scrap, scrap and scrap…that is what everyone is going to be talking about for the next week to ten days. David Feldstein in tonight’s HRC Futures article suggested prime grades could go higher in March by as much as $80 per gross ton. I have read articles that suggest the numbers could be […]
We have a number of articles in tonight’s newsletter about China and Chinese steel and iron ore prices. Why do we pay so much attention to one country? China controls 50 percent of the world’s steel production. The country has somewhere around 300 million metric tons (330 million net tons) of excess capacity. They have […]
I debated about just changing our Price Momentum Indicator to Neutral just on hot rolled and cold rolled and leaving galvanized at Higher. The pricing pressure on coated products spot negotiations does not appear to be necessary when looking at the lead times. The question then becomes are the lead times perhaps a bit “padded,” […]
A special thank you to the companies who have stepped up early to be sponsors at this year’s Steel Summit Conference: Our Conference Sponsor – Pacesetter as well as our two Corporate Sponsors – Bank of America and Mill Steel. We also have one break sponsor at the moment – Kenwal and we have two […]
On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week Steel Market Update conducted our 6th Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference was the largest for us with 428 steel executives participating. I will let a few of the comments I got this morning speak for themselves: “Great conference John. Very well put together…..best one […]
I expect the next seven days will be quite hectic in my life and those of our SMU team as we make final preparations for the 2016 Steel Summit Conference. I will actually be traveling to Georgia on Wednesday and will work from there until the conference has concluded. We do have a few spots […]
Two steel mills announced price increases today. This is the beginning of the 6th round of increases since the first announcement in early December 2015. However, unlike past announcements this one just doesn’t “feel” the same. We are not seeing a rush to buy (unless it was a special deal at much less than the […]
One of the most over used and misunderstood terms in the steel industry is “value added.” What exactly does “value” and “value added” mean when discussing steel distribution in particular? When asking the question, the first response I tend to get is about the “value proposition” or how perceived value relates to price, service and […]
Written by: John Packard, Publisher of Steel Market Update. Packard has 31 years of steel sales experience in the steel industry in the service center, trading company and steel mill segments of the industry. The Truth About Selling Steel is series of articles dedicated to those interested or involved with the process of selling (with […]
We only have a few spots left for our upcoming Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop. If you or your company has interest in attending the May 17-18, 2016 workshop, which will be located in Sylvania, Ohio (just outside of Toledo) at the Wingate Hotel, please register online or contact our […]
A quick reminder that our next Steel 101 workshop which will be held just outside of Toledo, Ohio on May 17-18th of this year, is about half full. We already have an excellent group of manufacturing companies, service centers and steel mills attending. On the afternoon of the first day we will tour the North […]