Final Thoughts

When speaking to one of the main ferrous scrap analysts in the industry our newsletter was paid a compliment when I asked if the scrap community was aware of our newsletter.  I was told, “They do already.  Many of them have a lot of confidence in your reports.  They refer to it more often then they refer to AMM or SBB.”

A note to let everyone know that our next Steel 101 workshop has two spots left and then it will be sold out. You can find information about the workshop on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com in the Events section or you can contact our office at: 800-432-3475.

I did some checking regarding what hot rolled offers were being made by foreign entities into the U.S. market. I am finding there are not a lot of offers – some out of Europe and Mexico in the $480-$500 per ton FOB the border/port. Turkey is on holiday this week and we expect there could be more Turkish offers next week. However, as we explained in our World vs. Domestic Price Analysis in tonight’s issue, unless there is a significant freight advantage buyers seem to be leaning foreign.

We heard from one large service center buyer that we needed to watch one of the mini mills as they have been competing with “foreign fighter” numbers on upstream products (cold rolled/coated). I will dig deeper into this in the coming days as it has been my opinion that the spread between HR and CR/coated base prices was a tad high. We may begin to see this moderate in the coming weeks.

If you have information about the market (or just have questions) please feel free to contact me. I can be reached at 800-432-3475 or by email at: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com

As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.

John Packard, Publisher