North American markets plunge as Trump’s China tariffs stoke fears of trade war | Hot Sale Galvanized Steel Pipe Price

26 – The Senate passed legislation ordering an end to five weeks of rotating strikes at Canada Post. Royal assent was granted after Senators approved Bill C-89 by a vote of 53-25, with four abstentions. Postal workers were told to be back on the job at noon the following day.

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Evidence is now emerging that the Trump steel tariffs are beginning to have the desired effect of re-energizing shut-down steel mills and rolling lines, putting American steelworkers back to work, and displacing imports.  It also seems to be doing that without a particularly heavy burden on steel consumers, although the final appraisal of that aspect of steelmaking and steel tariffs is not complete.  This result is unsettling to the “free traders,” mostly because of thinking of political orthodoxy, but again I point out that the USA has not had, if it ever had, “free trade” in basic metals, mostly because there are no comparative advantages.  Instead, offshore (non-US) producers have long held an “absolute advantage,” in that offshore production costs have been lower than US costs in dollar terms, and in an effort to dispose of the chronic over-production of steel (due to large over-capacity),  offshore producers have been dumping their excess into the US market.      To illustrate, I invite readers to ponder the situation now unfolding in Lorain, Ohio.  Lorain has been a US steel-producing location since about 1880; it sits on the South Shore of Lake Erie, near Cleveland.  There are two steel plants in Lorain: the basic steel smelters of Republic Steel, and a processing re-melt and rolling mill operation of U.S. Steel. Both had some or all of their plant shut down in 2017, due to being undercut by dumped imported steel.       The Republic mill manufactured tubed product, basically forms of pipe, and rod product, including quite thin rod.  That sort of steel is used in such items as chicken-coop fencing, industrial fencing, and playground fencing. Tubing can be both thin-wall and thick-wall, and used in such final products as hydraulic lines, and pipe.  Now the Republic plant had shut down several pipe extruding and rolling lines; with the commencement of the tariffs, Republic is starting up those lines and calling back another thousand men.  Previous employment was down to about 660 men, so this is a significant boost in local employment.       The US Steel plant appears to be a rolling and finishing plant for both hot-rolled and cold-rolled products.  I do not have a full picture of the product lines, but given the historical location (near both shipbuilding and rail locomotive manufacture) I would guess it would include plate steel, boiler steel, structural.  That plant also will re-start rolling lines, probably adding many hundreds if not a thousand men.     The impact on Lorain is huge.  Lorain is a city gripped in poverty, with a poverty rate now at some 27% of the population.  Putting several thousand men back to work at steelmaking wages  (these are United Steelworkers Union jobs) dramatically changes that picture.  It also changes the dynamics of the local taxes and payments, putting City Hall on a more solid foundation, able to pay the policemen and the firemen.  So all of that is quite positive.     Who is taking the hit?  I don’t know, but I would assume the company taking the biggest hit is Acelar-Mittal, a dominant steel player headquartered in India.  The dumped product, I speculate, is flowing from Acelor mills in France, the Ruhr, India, and possibly Luxembourg.  I don’t know if any of the displaced product came from the other side of Lake Erie, in Ontario Canada, and probably does not, although the US-owned US Steel Canada might have produced some competing product.  How much tube steel was coming out of China is something the industry insiders would have a handle on, not me.  But in any event, it does choke off the dumped steel, and obliges domestic buyers to switch to US product, which they are now doing.  Bottom line:  Trump’s steel tariff gambit is working.  Now:  is it really hurting steel users?  Stay tuned for a later installment in this saga.   

24 – Three insiders from U.S. College basketball recruiting were convicted of fraud by a federal jury in Manhattan. The trial of former Adidas executive James Gatto, business manager Christian Dawkins and amateur league director Merl Code centred on whether their admitted efforts to channel secret payments to the families of top recruits to lure them to major basketball programs sponsored by Adidas was criminal. Prosecutors accused the defendants of defrauding universities, who were unaware of the payments, by tricking them into passing out scholarships to players who should have been ineligible.

18 – New rules that increased penalties for drunk driving and expanded police powers to demand breath samples took effect across Canada. The legislation gave police officers the right to ask for a breath sample from any driver they lawfully stop, lowering the bar from the previous legislation, which required that an officer have reasonable suspicion that a person had been drinking.

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Given that years have probably transpired from that first “ah-ha” moment, with any luck, management will continue to support the project and customers will see the value of the new process. Furthermore, it is important that market demand is still strong, capital-cost estimates have remained reasonable, raw materials are readily accessible, the price of petroleum is stable and environmental permits are obtainable. While it is understandable to be buoyant over the successful demonstration, clearly the challenges and barriers for full process commercialization are far from over.

20 – Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland was selected as Business Newsmaker of the Year in the annual survey by The Canadian Press of editors across the country. 81 per cent picked Freeland, who went head to head with the Trump administration during NAFTA negotiations. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley was second with nearly 10 per cent.

Petitioners have also alleged CVD margins above de minimis based on various subsidy programs from the governments of China, India, Korea and Turkey.

Shares of Ternium stock traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $28.63. 254,500 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 359,138. Ternium SA has a twelve month low of $25.52 and a twelve month high of $42.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

17 – Serial rapist and killer Paul Bernardo told the National Parole Board that low self-esteem drove him to commit his horrific crimes and that he no longer poses any threat to the public. Bernardo’s pitch for parole was turned down by the panel hearing the case after just 30 minutes of deliberation.

TUALATIN, Ore., Jan. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Albina Co., Inc., located outside Portland, Oregon, has been providing customers with innovative, quality curved steel services and products since 1939. A family owned and operated, third generation business, run by Brian Smith, specializes in structural steel, tube and pipe bending, plate rolling and fabrication. Albina produces virtually any metal component that needs to bend or curve without the use of pre-formed fittings. Albina has provided curved steel for many high-profile buildings, stadiums and structures in the United States and Canada. Albina was the steel bender of choice on the recently completed Amazon Spheres in Seattle, Washington.