Trade Cases

OCTG Imports from Argentina, Mexico, Russia Under Investigation

November 19, 2021

At the direction of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the U.S. Commerce Department will continue to investigate oil country tubular goods (OCTG) imports from Argentina, Mexico and Russia that are allegedly being subsidized and dumped in the U.S. at below fair value.

In a Nov. 19 vote, the USITC ruled there is reasonable indication that the U.S. industry is being materially injured by unfair OCTG imports from the three nations. It accuses the governments of Russia and South Korea of subsidizing their OCTG producers.

The investigation covers hollow steel products of circular cross section including seamless or welded oil well casing and tubing, as well as OCTG coupling stock.

Petitioners in the case include Borusan Mannesmann Pipe U.S., PTC Liberty Tubulars, U.S. Steel Tubular Products, Welded Tube USA and the AFL-CIO.

The Commerce Department will issue its preliminary countervailing duty determinations by Dec. 30 and its preliminary antidumping duty determinations by March 15, 2022.

According to the filing, U.S. producers had OCTG shipments of $2.1 billion in 2020. Imports from the nations in question amounted to $493 million of a total $3.1 billion in U.S. consumption.

Unfair imports of OCTG products don’t just impact producers of tubular goods. The OCTG sector is a major consumer of the flat-rolled steel and plate produced in the U.S.

By Tim Triplett, Tim@SteelMarketUpdate.com