Activity and pricing within the US domestic API X-52 ERW line pipe market have ticked down by $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) since or last report a week ago, which brings the current price range to $60-$63 cwt. ($1,323-$1,389/mt or $1,200-$1,260/nt), ex-mill, although sources close to SteelOrbis have expressed frustration over holding previously purchased, higher-priced inventory.
One source indicated his company is “underwater on a decent chunk of what we bought in the second half of 2018. It’s as painful as it is frustrating.”
Another source agreed, adding that “prices are too low and inventories are healthier than we’d like.”
In terms of oil prices, that market is optimistic. News outlets today reported that US crude prices have posted their best quarter in a decade. Current prices are up by 32 percent since the start of the year.