On Tuesday, a number of US mills filed antidumping/countervailing duty against the majority of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) imports from the majority of supplying countries. Although a case has been generally expected for some time now, the scope and number of countries involved sparked a mixed response.
The American Institute of International Steel (AIIS) said: We believe that this massive filing is excessive and unwarranted and will disrupt the critical oil and gas drilling market. Oil and gas drilling have been one of the bright spots of the US economy since the Great Recession. Whether it is conventional drilling activities or the newer ‘fracking' method, the US is quickly moving to energy-independence and in the process, tens of thousands of jobs are being created. Put simply, those companies involved in oil and gas drilling need high quality dependable suppliers of OCTG and imports have been and remain an important part of the supply that gets the job done.
The AIIS response continued: In the US' open market, some OCTG suppliers have behaved irresponsibly at different times, whether domestic or importer. Such irresponsible behavior has disrupted normal market supply and demand, and in this case involving OCTG has created an inventory overhang that has crippled some lower segments of the OCTG market. However, in the current case, the AIIS believes the vast majority of suppliers of imports and domestic are high quality, responsible suppliers to the US market. This massive filing will disrupt the oil and gas drilling market for those responsible traders, their suppliers and also could threaten to disrupt drilling operations as well.
"AIIS also believes that the current law will quickly determine that the vast majority of the targets of this massive filing have been responsible suppliers to the US market and allow the critical flow of OCTG to continue to support drilling, jobs and move our country toward American energy independence," said AIIS president David Phelps.
On the other hand, The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) lent its support to petitions filed today with the Department of Commerce (DOC) and the International Trade Commissions (ITC) seeking antidumping relief on certain OCTG from India, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam.
Thomas J. Gibson, president and CEO of AISI, said, "Imports from these countries have surged by 111 percent in the past few years, and the petitioners present that these imports have caused material injury to the domestic steel industry. US laws against unfair trade exist to counter market-distorting practices--like subsidies--and to restore conditions of fair trade, but this cannot occur unless all parties play by the rules. It is vital for US companies to have the chance to compete for business on a level playing field. We applaud these domestic steel companies for taking a stand and we urge the DOC and ITC to take a hard look and provide antidumping and countervailing duty relief for our industry."