Final Thoughts
August 19, 2021
Final Thoughts
Written by Tim Triplett
Lead times have shortened noticeably based on Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week. But don’t read too much into that one data point. Other factors point to more of the same for steel prices, at least for a while.
As reported elsewhere in this issue, lead times appear to have shortened by a week or more for spot orders of hot rolled, cold rolled and plate. Lead times for coated products remain about the same. Even at a week shorter, average HR lead times are still longer than nine weeks, double the delivery times in a typical market – so they have a ways to go before they normalize.
