The entire
US steel industry was on the edge of their seats yesterday waiting for the
US Department of Commerce’s announcement of preliminary dumping determinations on the oil country
tubular goods (OCTG) anti-dumping case, but no expected the margins would be so low. Korean mills, who had long been maintaining their margins would be less than 10 percent, walked away unscathed, at zero percent. Taiwanese producer Chung Hung Steel Corporation, Turkish producers Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.and Borusan Istikbal Ticaret T.A.S. and Indian producer GVN Fuels Limited also received zero percent margins. For the most part, mills in the nine countries named in the suit received slap on the wrist margins at best, with most being hit at less than 6 percent. The remaining two Indian mills were hit at 55.27 percent,
Thailand’s mills received a margin of 118.32 percent, and two Vietnamese producers have margins of 111.47 percent.
Meanwhile, there is but one thing that is certain within the
US domestic market--prices aren’t going up. “It doesn’t seem as if this is that big of a deal,” said one Texas-based service center, “and this could place additional pressure on the market when offshore bookings resume.” For now the most commonly reported spot price transaction range for domestic finished J55 ERW OCTG casing are still at $59.00-$61.00 cwt. ($1,300-$1344/mt or $1,180-$1,220/nt), ex-Midwest mill, unchanged in the past week.