SMU Data and Models
September 3, 2015
Lead Times Remain a Week Shorter than One Year Ago
Written by John Packard
Domestic steel mill lead times continued to be relatively short based on the consolidated results of our most recent flat rolled steel market analysis just completed earlier today. It is our opinion the short lead times are influencing negotiations and most likely explain the weakness we saw in our flat rolled prices that were just adjusted for the second time this week.
Hot rolled lead times averaged 3.11 weeks which is down modestly from the 3.41 weeks reported at the beginning of August. When we took a look at the beginning of July, HRC lead times were at 3.82 weeks and one year ago they were reported to be 4.37 weeks.
