With the US oil country tubular goods (OCTG) market demand remaining strong as a result of growing drilling activity, a few US domestic mills are preparing to increase prices in the next couple weeks. While a number of pipe mills announced significant price increases across their entire OCTG product line (seamless, welded and alloy tubing and casing) last November that were set to take effect January 1, other mills made no official pricing moves. However, with domestic flats prices up strongly over the past couple months and OCTG demand picking up, sources tell SteelOrbis a price increase anywhere from $1.50-$2.50 cwt. ($33-$55/mt or $30-$50/nt) on welded OCTG products is expected in the next couple weeks from mills that had not made any previous price announcements. The success of such an increase getting fully absorbed is not yet certain, and for now, domestic J55 electric resistance welded (ERW) OCTG casing spot prices remain unchanged between $66.00-$67.00 cwt. ($1,455-$1,477/mt or $1,320-$1,340/nt) ex-mill.
Import J55 ERW OCTG casing prices in the US have also stayed neutral from a week ago, but are expected to increase soon as offshore mills try and follow the US market's recent uptrend. Turkish sales prices in the US are $47.50-$48.50 cwt. ($1,047-$1,069/mt or $950-970/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, and are garnering substantial US interest. Korean offer prices are still $49.00-$51.00 cwt. ($1,080-$1,124/mt or $980-$1,020/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports; however, there are some on-the-ground imports at US Gulf ports being sold off as spot tons as much as $1.50 cwt. lower.