In early October, Nexteel, Hyundai Hysco and other South Korean producers named in the
US OCTG trade case filed an appeal with the
US Court of International Trade (CIT), claiming the DOC’s final determination to impose dumping margins (which spanned 9.89 – 15.75 percent) was “unsupported by substantial record evidence and is otherwise not in accordance with the law.” Earlier this week, the CIT denied the plaintiffs request for a preliminary injunction, which, for now at least, leaves those margins intact.
In
US Steel’s response to the plaintiffs’ late-October request, their attorneys point out an injunction can only be obtained if four key factors are established: a threat of immediate and irreparable injury, the likelihood of success based on the merits of the appeal, that the public interest would be “better served” if the injunction was granted and that the complaints will suffer hardship if the injunction is not granted. Their attorneys further argued that the request for the preliminary injunction “fails under each prong of this test.” On Nov. 10, the CIT found that upon consideration of the request, and the filed opposition, the request for the preliminary injunction was denied.
So for now at least, both
US domestic and import prices have not wavered. The most commonly reported
US domestic prices for finished J55 ERW oil country
tubular goods (OCTG) casing have held in the approximate range of $59.00-$61.00 cwt.
($1,300-$1344/mt or $1,180-$1,220/nt) ex-Midwest mill, while futures prices from Taiwanese producers for unfinished J55 ERW OCTG casing are also unchanged, still in the approximate range of $46.00-$47.00 cwt. ($1,014-$1,036/mt or $920-$940/nt, DDP loaded truck in
US Gulf coast ports. Korean offers for unfinished J55 ERW OCTG casing have also held neutral since our last report a week ago, in the approximate range of $980-$1,000 cwt. ($49.00-$50.00 cwt. ($1,080-$1,102/mt or $980-$1,000/nt) DDP loaded truck in
US Gulf coast ports.