Steel Mill Lead Times Shoot Out

Steel mill lead times on all four flat rolled products have become more extended according to those who responded to our most recent flat rolled steel market analysis. As lead times extend, steel buyers have to place more orders in order to protect their inventories. The more orders placed, the better chance for the domestic steel mills to collect higher flat rolled steel spot prices.

As our regular readers know, Steel Market Update writes articles about flat rolled steel mill lead times based on two sources: Our twice monthly surveys and directly from steel buyers who receive lead time sheets from the mills (or receive them verbally). The following article is based on the lead times collected from our latest survey which concluded on Thursday of this past week.