Turkish, Korean, Vietnamese and Taiwanese mills have revised their CFR offer prices to the US, with each country lowering prices by $20/mt in the past week. Import CFR prices for API X-42 electric resistance welded (ERW) line pipe previously increased by twice that amount since the end of January, but out-of-skew supply and demand compounded by the recent softening in raw materials prices in the Far East is leading buyers to hold off on placing orders. Sales prices in the US did not increase alongside higher CFR offer prices in late January and February and have remained neutral again since last week. Prices from all four countries are between $44.00-$45.00 cwt. ($970-$992/mt or $880-$900/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports. Still, with demand being slight, this revision in CFR offer pricing is not likely to spur increased order placement, especially since weakened interest in booking futures started becoming evident toward the latter part of 2012. For the month of February, data from the US Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) shows the US imported 56,269 mt (license data) of line pipe from Korea, reflecting an approximate 33 percent decrease from the 79,429 mt (census data) reported in January.
Shifting focus to the US domestic market, API X-42 ERW line pipe spot prices are also unchanged in the past week. The average spot price range is still between $54.00-$55.00 cwt. ($1,191-$1,212/mt or $1,080-$1,100/nt) ex-mill, while lead times remain at about four weeks. Industry insiders say that too much supply and not enough demand is the biggest thorn in their side. Not surprisingly, those who are interested in booking larger orders are still able to get deals at $3.00-$5.00 cwt. ($66-$110/mt or $60-$100/nt) below the average spot range.