Turkish producers of unfinished oil country
tubular goods (OCTG) casing have said they’re confident that no antidumping (AD) or countervailing duty (CVD) will be decided in the
US for Turkish OCTG imports in the ongoing investigation, but it’s still too soon for a final call to be made. As it stands, results in the administrative review of the CVD investigation suggest that subsidy margins for Turkish
pipe mills could be di minimis, or less than 2 percent, although AD margins will not be determined until Feb. 12, 2014. For now,
Korea continues to be the major offshore player when it comes to import tonnages. As it stands, the most recent
US Steel Monitoring Import and Analysis (SIMA) data shows that for the month of November, import tonnages of OCTG from
Korea totaled 76,430 mt (license data), nearly four times the tonnage than
Vietnam, the second largest importer, who came in at 18,669 mt (license data). Korean mills continue to be aggressive in seeking
US orders, and although they are still “officially” offering in the approximate range of $47.25-$48.25 cwt. ($1,041-$1,063/mt or $945-$965/nt), with deals as much as $2.25 cwt. ($50/mt or $45/nt) below that range readily available on larger orders.
Meanwhile, the
US domestic market has held steady on its “ho-hum” path. Spot prices for finished J55 ERW OCTG casing have once again trended sideways and continue to be available in the range of $58.00-$61.00 cwt. ($1,279-$1,344/mt or $1,160-$1,220/nt) ex-Midwest mill. For now,
US producers remain cautiously optimistic that the final trade case determinations will be high enough to remove significant offshore OCTG tonnages from the
US domestic market, although the horizon is still uncertain.