Final Thoughts

There were many questions raised earlier this week about the announced new steelmaking and rolling capacities and whether those projects would indeed continue through completion. The questions came during various steel meetings held by analysts, steel mills, CRU and others in New York City. I participated in three events and found the question brought up either during presentations or in private discussions at each one of them.

The answers that we are getting either directly from the steel mills in question or from the financial community, which has been meeting with the mill CEOs this week in NYC, is the work continues unabated. JSW told me directly that their project in Baytown is moving “at full speed” and advised the market to not pay any attention to rumors. Nucor advised in their investor day held today that they are enthusiastic about the projects on their drawing board. Earlier this month, I participated in a press briefing where Steel Dynamics CEO Mark Millett justified their proposed new mill in the Texas/Louisiana region so they could better serve the energy and automotive markets in the U.S. and Mexico. Earlier this year, I visited the Ternium construction site in Mexico as they prepare for 4.5 million tons of new rolling capacity.