1981 - real per-tonne price but lower overall cost

As an independent steel producer, how can an independent customer - say a forgemaster in Birmingham - benefit from steel at a lower overall cost despite paying the real per-tonne price for steel? Where subsidised steel from Government-owned nationalised producers is available?

There's two overall explanations

the "time value of money"
specific requirements accurately met

"Time value of money" was predominantly represented by

Delivery in 2 weeks, rather than 6 months (saves a lot of money on stock levels and planning).

Literally, a lorry driving out of the gate with a load of steel was taking it to a customer who had phoned in that order only two weeks previously; this being in the manufacturing of a vast range of alloy steel grades.
This saved customers an enormous amount of money on stocking and planning. In being able to always immediately fulfil their customers' requirements without needing to hold enormous precautionary stock levels which a six-month delivery time requires.

"Specific requirements" was a very wide disparate range of details each important to that individual customer.
Most were apparently entirely simple; however only an independent Company with a lean effective leadership structure can mobilise the detailed interventions when-and-where required to meet these ad hoc requirements.

The Customer presses forgings with no "flash" (rather than hammering with a "flash"), so size accuracy is very specific, in order to just fill the die. The requirement is narrower than the rolling mill can achieve 100% even with two trainees sent to assist the "rollman" take at the hot-saw a sample for size measurement from every product. With the "rollman" signalling to the roll-drivers "up", "down" or "same" for every final rolling pass. However, the steel grade is common and any out-of-size is diverted to general small order stock, leaving 100% of the delivered steel to size requirement. The significant added value which the customer paid far exceeds to small cost of the simple pragmatic production intervention
The Customer specifies "3 tonnes maximum bundle weight". That's because this is the maximum Safe Working Load (SWL) of this very small customer's crane. Higher bundle weight and it can't come off the lorry. The requirement matters. The Customer pays what is to this steel manufacturer is a rather excellent per-tonne price - which to the Customer is advantageous compared to a steel stockholder's price.
The customer specifies a very accurate length, bundled together. They do take all "shorts" though these must be bundled separately. Explanation - the customer has a highly automated forging line, which can run fast with minimal intervention when supplied uniform stock of expected length. Processing any other length requires intervention - so the "shorts bundled separately" requirement is solicitously fulfilled, enabling the customer to only occasionally intervene to process a "run" of "shorts". The money explanation - the customer gets charged very little more money for this very specific length requirement because they still take 100% of the product in this mutually agreeable arrangement.

(R. Smith, 12Dec2017, 10Feb2018)