Specialty grades are not made continuously. Mills roll them in campaigns, and if you miss a campaign you wait for the next one — then you still have to ship it.
The three ways to buy
From stock. Immediate, flexible, the right call for breakdowns, shutdowns, small tonnages and anything where the schedule can move. You pay a stockholding margin for the privilege, and you get exactly the quantity you need.
Direct from mill. Best price per tonne at volume, and you can specify exactly — thickness, width, surface, testing. The cost is lead time, minimum tonnages and the inflexibility of a fixed rolling slot.
Call-off against a reserved consignment. The middle ground that suits most projects: tonnage is secured at an agreed price, drawn down as the construction front needs it, with no site congestion and no idle capital.
What to put where
- Hold in your own yard: the two or three sizes your plant consumes constantly.
- Buy from stock: emergency and shutdown material, odd sizes, small tonnages.
- Order direct or on call-off: project tonnage with a known schedule, and anything where exact width and thickness cut your offcut to near zero.
Where delay really hurts
A plate that arrives three weeks late does not cost you three weeks of plate. It costs you the crew, the crane, the rented access and the production you did not make. Price the delay, not the tonne.
We hold specialty grades in Dubai specifically to absorb this. Tell us your schedule and we will say plainly what is on the floor, what is on the water and what needs a mill slot.
