Mills Show Flexibility on Spot Price Negotiations

Lead times are declining, which reflects a possible softening of demand, thus domestic mills appear to be more willing to negotiate spot pricing on hot rolled, cold rolled, hot-dipped galvanized and Galvalume steels than they were earlier in the year. About 70-80 percent of steel buyers responding to this week’s flat rolled steel market trends questionnaire report that mills have shown greater flexibility on pricing since around May 1.

SMU Note: The majority of our responses were provided prior to all of the domestic mills making their price announcements. We will watch lead times and price negotiations carefully in the coming days and weeks.