Final Thoughts

I’ve been asked my opinion as to which way steel prices will head from here. There seems to be a bit of a lull at the moment that one steel buyer attributed to the mills trying to stave off imports and not appear to be too greedy. Steel buyers are telling me that they will continue to buy foreign steel. To many buyers, it is a matter of price, to others it is principal. I continue to hold our Price Momentum Indicator at Higher as all the balls are in the mills’ court, or should I say the government’s court. We should get a better feel as to how President Trump and his DOC and USTR team are going to handle Canada, Mexico, Europe and other nations by the end of this month. We will also have a better feel as to how much “new” tonnage is being placed with foreign trading companies. At the moment, we are being told it is relatively minor tons.

I am doing some investigation as to what offers are out there on foreign hot rolled (hearing $43.00/cwt-$44.00/cwt USA port, which is not an attractive number if you think prices will drop later this quarter or early into third quarter), cold rolled (hearing Vietnam in the $47-$48 base price range) and coated steels (hearing Galvalume in the low $50’s including the 25 percent tariff).