Final Thoughts

Prices continued to move higher this week and the mills seem to have gotten a handle on price momentum both on flat rolled and plate. Whether this is temporary or not will depend on lead times and the ability of the steel mills to fill their order books. 

As one buyer told me this morning: “Overall, lead times are out about 1.5-2 weeks from the bottom. We’ll need to see how fast September fills up, since we see a wide variation in lead times among the mills. Having said that, even if September closes sooner vs. later, I am very suspect that we’ll see the market continue higher, and a firm ceiling of $30ish is very likely. Scrap price increases should provide some support/foundation for sheet prices and may help to prevent a reversal in the near term. However, there exists a strong possibility that we see a return to weak order books for October and could see downside risk for late fall and into year-end.”