Falling scrap and HRC prices, combined with a still-falling rig count and soft oil prices, have US domestic API X-52 line pipe market players feeling “more and more pessimistic.”
“The market is awful,” a source said. “Everything about the market is terrible. At this point we’re just trying to ride out the storm. The best I can say about what’s going on right now is that much in the way ‘what comes up must come down,’ is that ‘what comes down eventually goes back up.’”
Although average spot market pricing for US domestic API X-52 line pipe has remained stable week-on-week, at $50.00-$52.50 cwt. ($1,102-$1,157/mt or $1,000-$1,050/nt) ex-mill, deal-making is still reportedly rampant.