Although the rumors of what countries could be named in a line pipe trade case span everything from Korea to Taiwan to Vietnam, Korean producers continue to outperform every other country when it comes to US import tonnages. Sept. 4 data released by the Steel Monitoring Import and Analysis (SIMA) show that for the month of August, US import line pipe tonnages from Korea came in at 90,590 mt (license data), with the second most significant importer being India, at 18,526 mt (license data). In contrast, Taiwanese and Vietnamese producers’ combined import tonnages were less than 5,500 mt total, with Vietnam only contributing 6.15 mt (license data) to that tally.
In terms of prices, everything has held steady since our last report a week ago. US domestic spot prices have remained in the approximate range of $51.00-$52.00 cwt. ($1,124-$1,146/mt or $1,020-$1,040/nt) ex-Midwest mill, while futures offers from Vietnamese and Indian mills are still trending in the approximate range of $38.50-$39.50 cwt. ($849-$871/mt or $770-$790/nt) DDP loaded truck US Gulf coast ports. And lastly, futures offers from Korean and Taiwanese producers have also trended sideways in the past seven days and are still in the approximate range of $40.00-$41.00 cwt. ($882-$904/mt or $800-$820/nt) DDP loaded truck US Gulf coast ports.