The
US Department of Commerce (DOC) may still be two months out from making preliminary dumping determinations against oil country
tubular goods (OCTG) from various overseas sources, but this hasn’t stopped
Korea--one of the countries named in the suit--from soliciting orders. SteelOrbis sources report that Korean mills continue to maintain that their duties will be relatively low (less than 10 percent); they are so confident, in fact, that they are brokering deals as the importer of record. As of earlier this week, some traders were still booking unfinished J55 electric resistance welded (ERW) oil country
tubular goods (OCTG) casing in the approximate range of $44.00-$45.00 cwt. ($970-992/mt or $880-$900/nt) DDP loaded truck in
US Gulf coast ports. This could still be somewhat of a gamble, because while Korean mills have agreed to pay the assessed import duties if their margins are low, they will reportedly “turn the ship around” if they get slammed with higher duties during shipment.
Meanwhile, spot prices for
US domestic finished J55 electric resistance welded (ERW) oil country
tubular goods (OCTG) casing continue to trend in the approximate range of $58.00-$61.00 cwt. ($1,279-$1,344/mt or $1,160-$1,220/nt) ex-Midwest mill, reflecting no change in the past week. Demand continues to be steady and as with last week, the abundance of supply continues to outpace demand.