Preliminary dumping determinations against welded and seamless, finished and unfinished, oil country
tubular goods (OCTG) from India,
Korea, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the Ukraine may still be approximately two months out, but Korean mills continue to cite great optimism that their duties will be relatively low. Sources tell SteelOrbis that if that expectation comes to pass, Korean mills will resume offering OCTG to the
US at prices low enough to garner significant interest while still adhering to
US Department of Commerce (DOC) guidelines—which would undermine
US mills’ efforts to shift focus back to domestics. Until the official ruling, traders will continue to take a “wait and see” approach for import OCTG bookings from the countries named in the suit—but the Korean OCTG story, at least, is far from over.
Meanwhile, spot prices for
US domestic finished J55 electric resistance welded (ERW) oil country
tubular goods (OCTG) casing have held steady in the past seven days and is still in the approximate range of $58.00-$61.00 cwt. ($1,279-$1,344/mt or $1,160-$1,220/nt) ex-Midwest mill. As in previous weeks, deals on the lower end that range are most readily available for those looking to book larger tonnages.