US imports of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and line pipe products could increase in September.
- US OCTG imports could be 114,500 metric tonnes (t) in September, which would represent an increase of 15,200t compared to the prior year, according to license data from the US Department of Commerce, which is subject to change.
- If realized the September OCTG rise would be driven by a potential 19,800t increase from the prior year from South Korea to 60,600t and a 7,700t increase in volumes from Taiwan, up from none in the prior year.
- Those increases are partially offset by a possible 8,400t decrease in volumes from Canada and a 5,100t decrease from Mexico.
- If September OCTG import volumes do rise, it will be only the second month since May 2023 that import volumes have increased year over year.
- Line pipe imports may jump by 19,200t from the prior year to 101,800t.
- That increase could be driven by a 9,500t increase in line pipe of unspecified diameter from South Korea to 34,700t, and a 3,900t increase in Japanese volumes for line pipe less than or equal to 16in.
| US pipe and tube import licenses | metric tonnes | ||||
| Product | Sep-24 | Sep-23 | Difference | ±% | Aug-24 |
| OCTG | 114,521 | 99,310 | 15,211 | 15.3% | 129,096 |
| Line pipe* | 101,777 | 82,589 | 19,188 | 23.2% | 84,940 |
| Standard | 56,725 | 56,488 | 237 | 0.4% | 63,929 |
| Heavy Structural Shapes | 57,682 | 43,364 | 14,318 | 33.0% | 66,669 |
| US Department of Commerce; September 2024 data is license data, which is subject to change. | |||||
| *Line pipe is all diameters. | |||||
