Despite a slowdown in import J55 electric resistance welded (ERW) oil country tubular goods (OCTG) casing activity over the past month, offer prices from offshore have increased from last week. In particular, Korean, Taiwanese and Indian sales prices in the US are up as much as $1.50 cwt. ($33/mt or $30/nt) since last week to $49.00-$50.00 cwt. ($1,080-$1,102/mt or $980-$1,000/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports. However, according to trader sources, not all mills in the above countries have raised prices as substantially, and offers from different mills in Taiwan vary by as much as $1.00-$1.50 cwt. ($22-$33/mt or $20-$30/nt). Many US buyers, meanwhile, continue to keep futures bookings only moderate, as high levels of previously purchased material continues to hit US ports.
In the US domestic market, spot prices are stable from last week and are still between $66.00-$67.00 cwt. ($1,455-$1,477/mt or $1,320-$1,340/nt) ex-Midwest mill, but to fill in a rolling schedule or compete with other mills, there has been selective price cutting. Even though the US' oil rig count has decreased a couple times in the last few weeks, sources say they aren't too concerned by the recent drops considering the overall trend of oil drilling remains extremely strong. As a result, no major declines in OCTG spot prices are anticipated in the near future, but high domestic availability of commodity OCTG will also prevent mills from obtaining any real price increases either.