Sources close to SteelOrbis have confirmed that market conditions within the US domestic and import OCTG casing markets are the same as they were a week ago.
“Inventories are high, we just keep waiting for demand to take off but activity has been sluggish,” a source said. “The only thing that does is push prices down because service centers are antsy to increase cash flow.”
As with last week, domestic spot market prices for US domestic J55 ERW OCTG casing are holding in an “official” range of $60.00-$62.50 cwt. ($1,322-$1,378/mt or $1,200-$1,250/nt), ex-mill, although deals at the service center level for in-stock items are abundantly available.
Looking offshore, spot market prices for Korean finished J55 ERW OCTG casing in the US domestic market remains at approximately $62.50 cwt. ($1,378/mt or $1,250/nt), ex-warehouse.