The US Congressional Steel Caucus this week has urged President Donald Trump to brief them on his intentions regarding the Section 232 investigation. At current, Trump has not signaled whether he intends to take actions against certain steel imports, but he has until April 11 to decide.
He has, however, indicated that he is considering “all options” and plans to render a decision in the near future, saying that while he wants to keep prices down, he wants to ensure that the US steel industry is preserved, because if the US is ever at war with a country it’s buying steel from, that “somehow doesn’t work very well.”
The most recent data from the US Department of Commerce indicates the largest-volume shippers of OCTG to the US are Korea, Mexico and Brazil. The Trump administration has not yet indicated what types of tariffs or penalties, if any, it is considering against these countries.
In terms of current US import OCTG pricing, the most commonly heard transaction range for US import J55 ERW OCTG casing from Taiwan in the US domestic market continue to be heard at $40.00-$41.00 cwt. ($882-$904/mt or $800-$820/nt), DDP loaded truck in US Gulf coast ports, which reflects sideways pricing week-over-week.