Spot prices for
US domestic finished J55 electric resistance welded (ERW) oil country
tubular goods (OCTG) casing have maintained their sideways trend, although industry insiders say they can negotiate deals below the most common transaction range of $60.00-$61.00 cwt. ($1,323-$1,345/mt or $1,200-$1,220/nt) ex-Midwest mill, on sizeable orders. Buyers, though, aren’t rampantly booking significant tonnages because although demand remains steady, it lacks “oomph”. Orders are being placed on an as-needed basis as a means of filling gaps in inventory.
Meanwhile, new futures offers for unfinished J55 ERW OCTG casing are still relatively quiet. Trader sources say that as recently as late last wek, thee had still been a handful of bookings that had been taking place for pipe out of
Korea and
Taiwan. These were done in the approximate range of $42.50-$43.50 cwt. ($937-$959/mt or $850-$870/nt) DDP loaded truck
US Gulf Coast ports, but this is expected to fall off eventually, especially now that the
US Department of Commerce officially initiated a probe into OCTG imports from all nine countries named in the suit. It is still suspected that new import offers from Western European countries will emerge before the end of the year, but those have not yet materialized.