Final Thoughts

We had an exceptional SMU Community Chat Webinar with Dr. Chris Kuehl of Armada Corporate Intelligence on Wednesday morning. I am getting nothing but rave reviews of our free webinars, and I encourage you to inform your management and other teammates to register and then tune in at 11 AM ET every Wednesday. Next week (May 20) we will have John Anton of IHS Markit provide us an update on their view of the steel markets for the balance of 2020 and into 2021. The following week, May 27, we will host Barry Zekelman, Chairman and CEO of Zekelman Industries. To register for next week’s SMU Community Chat Webinar click here.

This week Steel Market Update conducted one of our flat rolled and plate steel market trends surveys. Based on the responses, lead times have bumped up but only slightly. Lead times this week are similar to lead times seen one year ago when prices were in the mid to upper $500s and moving lower. However, we would be remiss in failing to point out the adjustments that have been made to supply. The integrated mills have downsized their operations, taking hot metal out of the market. Hot rolled lead times averaging 3.2 weeks do not signal pricing strength. Our survey also pointed to continued high levels of price negotiations on all flat rolled products out of the domestic steel mills.