THE STANDARD PIPE MARKET

摘要

We continue to be puzzled by thedeficit this year to last in standard pipeshipments. Last month we providedstatistical support and discussions adnauseum regarding this position whichincluded some higher-level thoughts on whywe were puzzled when comparing activitylevels to shipments. If you haven’t read thissection, our position is that there are someclassification issues on dual or triple stenciledpipe whereby, intentionally or not, a line pipeHTS code is assigned by the importer whenthe product is intended to end up in astandard pipe application. We would expecta price difference because line pipe shouldhave 5% more steel and is generally beveledbut what we find is that it is not the case forall countries.