Still-soft rig count levels from depressed year-on-year US drilling activity are continuing to take their toll on the US domestic and import API X-42 line pipe markets. Oil prices fell below $30 per barrel earlier this week, and market players say they don’t expect to see any upticks in demand or order activity until oil prices, and rig counts, hit an upswing.
“Everything is slow across the board,” one source said. “No one is expecting big things; domestic activity is slow and interest in booking futures is incredibly light. People are only booking to fill holes in their inventories and even that type of buying is light.”
In terms of prices, both US domestic and import offers are unchanged week-on-week, as both domestic and offshore pricing remains flexible due to mills’ being hungry for orders. Futures offer prices from Korean and Taiwanese producers are still lateral, at approximately $25.50-$26.50 cwt. ($562-$586/mt or $510-$530/nt), DDP loaded truck in US Gulf Coast ports while US domestic spot market prices are also mostly sideways since our last report a week ago, at approximately $45.00-$46.00 cwt. ($992-$1,014/mt or $900-$920/nt), ex-Midwest mill. Sources, however, say all pricing is negotiable based on tons.