SteelOrbis sources have confirmed that US domestic spot prices for J55 electric resistance welded (ERW) oil country tubular goods (OCTG) casing continue to be seen in the range of $63.00-$65.00 cwt. ($1,389-$1,430/mt or $1,260-$1,280/nt) ex-Midwest mill. “Everything is pretty much ‘ho-hum,’” said one service center manager, although the market does appear to be moving in a positive direction. Order and inquiry activity for the first part of August has improved compared to the same period in July, although it’s still “nothing to write home about.”
Looking offshore, import J55 ERW OCTG casing offers out of Taiwan have not reflected any change from last week’s report. Taiwanese offerings continue to be seen at $47.00-$49.00 cwt. ($1,036-$1,080/mt or $940-$980/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports. Of note, though is a $0.50 cwt. ($11/mt or $10/nt) decrease in Korean offerings, which puts them almost on par with Vietnam. Vietnamese prices have consistently been approximately $0.50-$1.00 cwt. ($11-$22/mt or $10-20/nt) below Taiwanese prices. Despite consistently lower prices out of Vietnam for months now, US Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data show that the largest importer offshore importer for OCTG for the months of June and July was still Korea, at 69,738 (preliminary census data) and 58,864 (license data), respectively.