US cold-rolled coil and hot-dipped galvanized prices have diverged on wider concerns that the domestic flat-rolled steel market could be on shaky ground.
Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil, fob mill US was unchanged at $37 per hundredweight ($740 per ton) on Thursday September 19. Meanwhile, Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-dipped galvanized (base) steel coil, fob mill US was at $36.50 per cwt, down 1.4% from $37 per cwt a week ago.While some sources said lead times averaged a respectable six to seven weeks, others said they were as short as four weeks at some mills.Lead-time estimates were clouded in part by widespread outages at domestic mills, which means some lead times reflect downtime rather than stronger demand, sources said.Few sources said...