SMU Data and Models
January 19, 2017
Steel Mill Lead Times Remain Extended
Written by John Packard
Steel mill lead times, the amount of time it takes for steel mills to produce new orders of hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized or Galvalume products, continue to remain extended according to the results of Steel Market Update flat rolled steel market trends analysis conducted during the course of this week.
Hot rolled lead times are now averaging 4.73 weeks based on the cumulative average of the responses received during our survey process. The 4.73 weeks is slightly higher than the 4.55 weeks reported at the beginning of January. It is close to one week longer than what we saw one year ago when HRC lead times were reported as averaging 3.91 weeks.
