After a slight boost to US domestic A-53 electric resistance welded (ERW) black plain end (BPE) Grade A standard pipe spot prices ahead of the Christmas holiday, pipe mills have been pushing for their full $2.50 cwt. ($55/mt or $50/nt) price increase that was announced in mid-November. Demand still isn't particularly strong, but with less import competition due to anti-dumping investigations on a few of the US' top import sources and rapidly rising domestic flat-rolled spot prices, pipe mills are becoming increasingly successful in raising prices. In the last two weeks, standard pipe spot prices have increased $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) to $48.00-$49.00 cwt. ($1,058-$1,080/mt or $960-$980/nt) ex-Midwest mill. Sources tell SteelOrbis that pipe mills are targeting $50.00 cwt. ($1,102/mt or $1,000/nt) ex-mill on the spot market, a target they are likely to achieve in the next couple weeks.
The import market, on the other hand, has been extremely quiet in the last couple weeks and Korean A-53 ERW BPE Grade A standard pipe prices in the US have fallen about $1.00 cwt. since last week to the current range of $45.00-$46.00 cwt. ($992-$1,014/mt or $900-$920/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports. Turkish offer prices to the US are unchanged in the last two weeks and can still be found between $46.00-$46.50 cwt. ($1,014-$1,025/mt or $920-$930/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports.