The situation within the US domestic API X-52-line pipe market this week largely mirrors what’s been happening in the past few weeks. Buyers are reluctant to stock up in a market that’s plagued with soft prices, and as a result, order activity is light. What is of note, sources say, is this week’s price increase on US HRC. Should HRC prices firm, and scrap prices start to climb in July, this may help push line pipe prices higher.
“The rig count is soft, which isn’t helping any of us,” a source said. “But if substrate costs go up it would make sense that some of that could spill over into the energy pipe market.”
As with last week, domestic prices are still holding in the range of $56-$59 cwt. ($1,235-$1,301/mt or $1,120-$1,180/nt), ex-mill, although as in previous weeks, deals below this range were readily available to volume buyers.