At the NASPD 2018 annual convention in Houston, Texas last week, one seller of domestic OCTG casing said he believed that if the proposed Section 232 remedies are implemented, which include but aren’t limited to blanket global tariffs of 24 percent against steel imports from all countries to a tariff of “at least 53 percent” against 12 countries (including some of the most significant shippers of US import OCTG casing), that the tariffs could help stabilize both import and US pricing.
“Look, if you hit some of these countries with that type of tariff, it will force pricing up to what US mills are selling at,” the source said. “Not only will this create a level playing field, it could keep the domestic mills from going higher, because the domestic tube mills will want to keep the playing field level.”
The Trump administration has until April 11 to release their final decision, and as such, the US import pipe market expects to remain in a state of flux until then.
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 is still holding $40.00-$41.00 cwt. ($882-$904/mt or $800-$820/nt), DDP loaded truck in US Gulf coast ports, which reflects no change week-over-week.