Although an antidumping case has been anticipated in the
US import line pipe market for some time, the official filing last week still caught many off guard, as Turkish and Korean mills were the only foreign producers included. According to sources, the possible reasons behind such a narrow scope are twofold; first, the petitioners likely think they’ll have greater success with a targeted filing, as opposed to the “throw everything against the wall and see what sticks” strategy in other related cases; and second,
US import tonnages from other offshore producers are currently negligible compared to Turkey and
Korea.
US steel import license data show that in September, combined line pipe arrivals from the two countries totaled over 73,000 mt, whereas combined tonnages from other major sources
India,
Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam totaled just over 27,000 mt.
In terms of pricing, everything has remained neutral in the past seven days, although some suspect that Korean producers will step slowly away from the market for a bit, regroup, and determine whether to continue shipping line pipe to the
US as the importer of record, as they have done in the past. On the other hand, sources close to SteelOrbis say that some Korean producers are not as confident as they were in the OCTG case, and they are concerned about potential countervailing duty (CVD) margins once all is said and done.
For now, futures offers from Indian mills continue to trend in the approximate range of $41.50-$42.50 cwt. ($915-$937/mt or $830-$850/nt) DDP loaded truck
US Gulf coast ports; futures offers from Brazilian mills are still coming in about $1.00 cwt ($22/mt or $20/nt) higher; while futures prices from Korean producers are holding at $42.00-$42.50 cwt. ($926-$937/mt or $840-$850/nt). Offers from Taiwanese mills are also sideways and are still in the approximate range of 41.50-$42.50 cwt. ($915-$937/mt or $830-$850/nt), all DDP loaded truck in
US Gulf coast ports.
In terms of the
US domestic market, the most commonly reported spot price transaction range has also held lateral, at $51.00-$52.00 cwt. ($1,124-$1,146/mt or $1,020-$1,040/nt) ex-Midwest mill.