Steel Mill Lead Times: HR Average Under Five Weeks

Lead times for steel delivery are a measure of demand at the mill level—the longer the lead time the busier the mill. Lead times on hot rolled and cold rolled steel products have remained flat over the past couple of weeks, while coated products saw some shortening of delivery times, according to Steel Market Update’s latest market trends data. Lead times for hot rolled now average less than five weeks, cold rolled less than seven weeks, and galvanized and Galvalume right around seven weeks. Mill lead times are gradually moving back toward more typical delivery times.

Hot rolled lead times now average 4.62 weeks, about the same as in early August. Current lead times for hot rolled are down from 5.18 weeks a month ago, and down from the April peak of 5.73 weeks. This time last year, hot rolled lead times averaged 4.20 weeks.