The saga continues for the US Department of Commerce’s countervailing duty (CVD) investigation into oil country tubular goods (OCTG) casing from certain offshore mills, as a preliminary CVD of 25.67 percent has been announced against Turkish steel pipe producer Borusan Mannesmann. Another Turkish steel pipe producer, Toscelik, also has a preliminary 1.67 percent countervailing duty. At this point, traders say they’ll continue to watch and wait, as the final determinations are not due to be announced until mid-July. In terms of other offshore activity, offers for unfinished J55 ERW oil country tubular goods (OCTG) casing to the US have continued along their sideways trend, as second and third-tier mills continue to offer more attractive prices than their first-tier mill counterparts. For the most part, the low-end ranges from Korean and Taiwanese mills continue to be offered in the approximate range of $42.50-$43.50 cwt. ($937-$959/mt or $850-$870/nt), DDP loaded truck US Gulf coast ports, although first-tier mills are coming in $1.50-$2.00 cwt. ($33-$44/mt or $30-$40/nt) higher.
Meanwhile, those within the US domestic finished J55 ERW oil country tubular goods (OCTG) casing say the market has held at sideways since our last report a week ago, with the most commonly reported spot price transaction range having held at approximately $59.00-$61.00 cwt. ($1,300-$1344/mt or $1,180-$1,220/nt), ex-Midwest mill. Industry insiders say they don’t expect to see any real movement when it comes to spot prices in the near future, and that order activity and inquiries are holding steady.