Many US line pipe buyers are maintaining more than adequate inventory levels, and with a swell of arriving imports in March, most have tempered buying activity. As a result, US domestic API-X42 electric resistance welded (ERW) line pipe prices have weakened on the spot market, and are now between $61.00-$62.00 cwt. ($1,345-$1,367/mt or $1,220-$1,240/nt) ex-mill--down $0.50 cwt. ($11/mt or $10/nt) in the last week. However, drilling demand remains strong enough that further drops are unlikely, especially with recent stability in the US flats market.
Import offer prices, in the meantime, are stable, and can still be found between $46.00-$47.00 cwt. ($1,014-$1,036/mt or $920-$940/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports from Korea, Taiwan and India. Despite stable prices, traders tell SteelOrbis that their customers haven't been too interested in booking futures recently, especially after many US buyers received huge tonnages of previously ordered imports last month--235,993 mt of imported line pipe arrived in the US in March according to license data from the US Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) system, compared to 144,439 mt (preliminary census data) in February. Arrivals from Korea accounted for the largest portion of March imports with 62,593 mt. The US also received 28,678 mt from Germany; 26,036 mt from Japan; and 19,524 mt from Greece.