Players within both the US domestic and import unfinished J55 electric resistance weld (ERW) oil country tubular goods (OCTG) casing market continue to have an ear to the ground with regard to the ongoing antidumping (AD) case against welded and seamless, finished and unfinished, OCTG from eight countries. As in previous weeks, Korean mils are the only ones who have signed on as the importer of record, and now that "critical circumstances" allegations have been filed in the AD investigations of Turkey, India, Vietnam, Ukraine and Korea, traders who have shipments that are on the water say this is a big concern and are already planning for a worst-case outcome.
Meanwhile, US OCTG mills are pleased with the critical circumstances allegations, because if AD margins are high, domestic mills are bound to dominate the US market. Industry insiders say that if this is the case, and once the final determinations are announced in February, price firming would come almost immediately, which means the current average spot market price of $58.00-$61.00 cwt. ($1,279-$1,344/mt or $1,160-$1,220/nt) ex-Midwest mill would quickly become a thing of the past.