Steel Mill Lead Times: Slight Ups and Downs

Lead times for spot orders of hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steels are now about a week longer than they were in January, but have seen only small upticks in the past month. Lead times for plate and Galvalume have actually shortened slightly. Hot rolled lead times now average a bit more than four weeks, plate around six weeks, cold rolled and Galvalume round six and a half weeks and galvanized nearly seven weeks.

Lead times for steel delivery are a measure of demand at the mill level. The longer the lead time, the busier the mills. The busier the mills, the less likely they are to negotiate on price.