US domestic pricing for API X-52 line pipe continues to hold steady at approximately $67.50-$70.00 cwt. ($1488-$1543/mt or $1350-$1400/nt), ex-mill, but sources close to SteelOrbis have indicated they’re paying close attention to retaliatory measures that countries impacted by Section 232 tariffs have been taking against the US.
News out of Japan today indicated that government officials are leaning toward telling the WTO that the country believes it has the right to “impose tariffs on US goods that are equal to the damage that Japan is suffering due to Section 232 tariffs.”
The Turkish government today also announced they plan to tax US paper, walnuts, tobacco, automobiles, petrochemical products, coal and cosmetics, in response to the US steel tariffs.
And while the actions from these two countries are unlikely to have an impact on the US energy pipe market, they are certainly notable, sources say, because “it looks like we’re staring down the barrel of an international trade war, which isn’t sustainable in the long term,” a source said.
Other sources largely agree, adding a widespread belief that pricing and supply within the US energy pipe markets are “going to get very ugly” toward the end of the year.
“As far as demand goes, things are good,” a source said, pointing to the fact that Brent crude briefly topped the $80 per barrel mark this week. “What’s not good for buyers, is that everything now costs 25 percent more than it did during the first months of the year.”