SMU Data and Models
May 10, 2015
Steel Mill Lead Times: Moving Out
Written by John Packard
The domestic flat rolled steel mill lead times have begun to move out, according to the results from our flat rolled steel analysis questionnaire conducted this past week. We are seeing movement on all four products: hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume. Lead times had bottomed in January and February and we started to see some extension of the amount of time it takes to get new orders produced in March and April just prior to the price increase announcements having been made by ArcelorMittal, Nucor, NLMK USA and others.
Since the announcements we have seen a bump in lead times as customers that need to book orders flock to the mills to protect themselves.
