The Inaugural Critical Commodities Conference (CCC), hosted by the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) and the Port of New Orleans in New Orleans, Louisiana last week, provided three days of networking opportunities as well as a chance to hear from some of the steel and logistics industries' top decision makers. While good news on the business front was difficult to come by, the mood of the conference seemed to be one of hope and anticipation.
The second day of the conference featured a steel panel of speakers, including: Jeffrey Himmel, President of Artco Group International; David Hodory, Director of Marketing and Communications for David J. Joseph Company; and Rick Dougherty, Vice President of Marketing for Cargill Ferrous International. The panel was moderated by Dave Phelps, President of AIIS.
Mr. Himmel of Artco, a supplier of steel plate, stressed the importance of free trade and how the global economies will suffer with more import and export regulations. However, Mr. Himmel also noted that it will not be an easy task establishing and preserving free trade agreements. "Keep your seat belts fastened, it's gonna be a bumpy ride," Himmel quipped.
Moving onto the view from the scrap side, Mr. Hodory of DJJ mentioned that scrap inventory levels have reached their lowest since 1991, resulting from the US exporting at a much higher rate than it is importing. The US switched from being a net scrap importer in the1990s to early 2000s before switching gears to become a net exporter in the mid-200s. Prospecting forward, despite the low supplies, Hodory expects scrap prices to continue to remain soft, moving on a slightly downward trend through 2009 and potentially into 2010.
The view from the trading side of the business was not much rosier. Mr. Dougherty of Cargill described the biggest challenges facing the steel industry: low steel demand, increasing competition, volatile raw materials, and financial instability. However, Mr. Dougherty also shared his opinion that while demand and prices may still sag in the near future, it appears that the worst is behind us.
Other panels represented during the conference were represented the energy, agriculture and logistics industries. The most high-profile speakers at the conference were the luncheon keynote speakers: James E. Caponiti, Acting Deputy Administer for the US Department of Transportation, and James Carville, former co-host of CNN's Crossfire and political consultant.
Mr. Caponiti discussed the importance of making more US rivers, besides the Mississippi River, water highways for transporting goods cost-efficiently to inner parts of the country and is confident that allocating funds to transportation projects will be a "natural process through 2009 and into 2010."
Mr. Carville's closing luncheon speech discussed everything from Arlen Spector to LSU football. But the one resounding phrase Mr. Carville said wanted to leave the audience with in regards to the difficult economy was a quote from Mark Twain. When Mark Twain was asked one day whether he thought it would stop raining, Twain replied, "well, it always does."
The CCC featured many diverse viewpoints from representatives of a host of different industries; however, the common theme seemed to be that the initial shock of the turbulent economy and falling steel prices seems to have worn off, and while many steel companies continue to struggle to book business, most of them have weathered the storm, and are looking forward to the day it stops raining.
(photo: James Carville, former co-host of CNN's Crossfire and political consultant)
