SMU Data and Models
April 9, 2015
Mill Lead Times Still Well Below 2014 Levels
Written by John Packard
This week Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our early April flat rolled steel market survey. Based on the results of our inquiries we learned that domestic mill lead times continue to be quite short and well below the lead times seen one year ago. However, when looking at last year’s lead times, we must remember that we had extenuating circumstances with a shortage of iron ore due to heavy ice on the Great Lakes and various blast furnace issues which artificially pushed out lead times.
Hot rolled lead times average less than 3 weeks or about in line with what we have been seeing since the beginning of this calendar year. Hot rolled orders continue to be impacted by weak orders out of the energy markets due to the price of oil. One year ago lead times on HRC averaged close to 5 weeks.
