• Skip to main content

    Prices

    March 3, 2014

    OCTG Trade Case – The Big Picture

    Written by Paul Lowrey

    The following article was written by steel industry consultant and contributor to Steel Market Update, Paul Lowrey. Mr. Lowrey owns a consulting company called Steel Research Associated, LLC which works with steel mills and large distributors or manufacturing companies involved with steel and steel products. More information about Mr. Lowrey can be found in the About Us section of our website.

    There is a lot of buzz about the unfavorable preliminary ruling in the OCTG trade case.  By now, you have seen the individual country import volumes and preliminary duties, so I am not going to repeat them here.  Instead, I am going to describe the big picture because the issues are more significant than some of you may think.

    Paul Lowrey

    Read more from Paul Lowrey

    Latest in Prices

    Plate supply squeeze tightens as demand presses higher

    The domestic plate market is showing few signs of relief for steel buyers. Lead times are stretching well beyond seasonal norms, spot availability has all but evaporated, and mills are drawing hard lines on contract volumes heading into 2027 negotiations. And the supply squeeze will likely intensify in a market that some industry sources say is structurally undersupplied because of stringent US trade and tariff policies. Imports have been arriving in larger volumes, and the expectation is they will continue to tick higher into 2027. The big question is whether those foreign tons will arrive in volumes sufficient to provide the relief steel consumers want.