Falling oil prices continue to hinder the US domestic and import J55 ERW OCTG casing markets, but some traders believe they’ll soon start to see an uptick in order placement as customers begin to plan for first quarter arrivals. The tonnages will not be significant, according to one source close to SteelOrbis, who expects that import order placements will begin to ramp up in the next few weeks. Others, however, say they are still quite concerned with the supply glut. Distributor sources continue to report seeing “about nine to 12 months of inventory that is on the ground.” Until oil prices rebound, and stabilize, the US domestic and import OCTG markets will continue to remain uninteresting.
In terms of prices, everything is steady week-on-week. US domestic spot prices for finished J55 ERW OCTG casing continue to trend at approximately $49.00-$50.00 cwt. ($1,080-$1,102/mt or $980-$1,000/nt), ex-Midwest mill, while futures offers for unfinished J55 electric resistance weld (ERW) oil country
tubular goods (OCTG) casing from
Korea and the
Philippines are also sideways at approximately $35.50-$36.50 cwt. ($783-$805/mt or $710-$730/nt), DDP loaded truck US Gulf Coast ports.