Late last week, the
US International Trade Commission moved to delay its final injury determination in the trade case against nine offshore importers of oil country
tubular goods (OCTG) to the
US. The final announcement, which had been slated to come out last Friday, was postponed to August 22 after the Department of Commerce (DOC) admitted making a clerical error in calculating dumping margins for Saudi Arabian respondent Jubail Energy Services Company (JESCO). As a result, the previous margin of 2.69 percent has been changed to a de minimis level, which means the DOC has now made a negative final dumping determination with respect to OCTG from Saudi Arabia. At least one Philippine respondent had also asked to submit additional information before the final determination was announced, although whether this documentation will impact their final margin has yet to be known.
For now, the market has seemingly taken a “wait and see” approach, with all
US buyers anxiously wondering how the dust will finally settle. In terms of pricing, all that has remained stable since our last report a week ago, with the most commonly reported
US domestic spot price transaction range remaining at $59.00-$61.00 cwt. ($1,300-$1344/mt or $1,180-$1,220/nt) ex-Midwest mill, while futures offers from Taiwanese and Korean producers coming in at approximately $51.00-$52.00 cwt. ($1,124-$1,146/mt or $1,020-$1,040/nt) and $52.00-$53.00 cwt. ($1,146-$1,168/mt or $1,040-$1,060/nt), respectively, both DDP loaded truck in
US Gulf coast ports.