Market Data

Steel Mill Lead Times: Slight Ups and Downs

April 4, 2019

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.

Hot rolled lead times now average 4.28 weeks, up slightly from 4.21 weeks reported in mid-March. Current lead times for hot rolled are still well below the 5.73 weeks at this time last year.

Cold rolled lead times have seen the most notable change of late. Cold rolled orders currently have a lead time of 6.57 weeks, up from 6.19 weeks in mid-March. Cold rolled lead times at this time last year stretched to 7.50 weeks.

Average lead times for galvanized steel have inched out to 6.96 weeks from 6.82 weeks in SMU’s last market canvas. Galvanized lead times were considerably longer at around 8.10 weeks in early April 2018. The current average lead time for spot orders of Galvalume is around 6.3 weeks, down from 6.5 weeks in the last poll.

Lead times for spot orders of plate steel now average 6.25 weeks, down a tick from the 6.45 weeks measured by SMU two weeks ago.

Note: These lead times are based on the average from manufacturers and steel service centers who participated in this week’s SMU market trends analysis. Our lead times do not predict what any individual may get from any specific mill supplier. Look to your mill rep for actual lead times. Our lead times are meant only to identify trends and changes in the marketplace. To see an interactive history of our Steel Mill Lead Times data, visit our website here.