Despite consistent demand levels, a few of lower-priced deals have been available on select import and US domestic oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and line pipe in the last week.
After a jump in notable OCTG casing import prices to the US last week, offer prices have stayed neutral this week, although buyer sources tell SteelOrbis that they have still been able to place sporadic orders for Korean J55 electric resistance welded (ERW) OCTG casing at about $0.50 cwt. ($11/mt or $10/nt) under current offer prices, resulting in spot orders concluded around and even slightly lower than current Vietnamese offer prices of $53.50-$54.50 cwt. ($1,179-$1,202/mt or $1,070-$1,090/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports. Korean mills are willing to offer these sporadic deals to continue to fight to keep their prominent market share in the US import OCTG market. Turkey remains active as well, and offer prices to the US have shown no change from last week, and can still be found in the range of $53.75-$54.75 cwt. ($1,185-$1,207/mt or $1,075-$1,095/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports.
In the US domestic OCTG casing market, a few lower-priced deals are being made as well, about $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) under the current spot price range of $66.00-$67.00 cwt. ($1,455-$1,477/mt or $1,320-$1,340/nt) ex-Midwest mill for J55 ERW OCTG casing--unchanged from last week. But despite a few select deals for larger orders, domestic spot prices are largely firm as demand continues to be healthy--US rig counts rose 27 last week according to the Baker Hughes rig count--a significant rebound after falling the two weeks before.
As for the US domestic market for API X42 ERW line pipe, activity from projects is keeping order activity steady for both mills and distributors and spot prices steady in the range of $64.50-$65.50 cwt. ($1,422-$1,444/mt or $1,290-$1,310/nt) ex-mill. But like with the domestic OCTG casing market, deals below the range are not unheard of.
Import line pipe demand and prices are largely steady as well, and after increasing about $1.00 cwt. last week, have stayed neutral. Korean API X42 ERW line pipe prices range from $49.00-$50.00 cwt. ($1,080-$1,102/mt or $980-$1,000/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports and Indian API X42 ERW line pipe prices remain in the range of $50.00-$52.00 cwt. ($1,102-$1,146/mt or $1,000-$1,040/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports.