Mill Lead Times/Negotiations: Little Relief Yet

Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week shows that lead times for deliveries of spot orders from the mills have shortened slightly on all flat rolled products. The dip of a half-week or less is not highly significant, however, as average lead times for hot rolled orders remain above 10 weeks, while those for cold rolled and coated products are still above 12 weeks – more than double the historical norms. Unless these numbers are the beginning of a longer-term trend, they indicate buyers are seeing little relief yet from the tight supplies that continue to push steel prices higher week after week.

Lead times for hot rolled now average 10.36 weeks, down slightly from 10.74 weeks in the last survey. Cold rolled lead times dipped to 12.11 weeks from 12.46 two weeks ago. At 12.68 weeks, lead times for galvanized products inched down from 13.26 weeks early this month. Lead times for spot orders of Galvalume have declined to 13.67 weeks from 14.42.