Oil country tubular goods (OCTG) prices eked out a gain for an eighth straight month in July, according to one widely followed industry index, but markets sources cautioned that prices appear to be softening or have already fallen on the back of lower tags for substrate, especially hot-rolled coil.

Hot-rolled coil is used to make a variety of welded tubular products, including welded OCTG. Seamless tends to track more closely with scrap and other raw material substrates, market sources said.

"Prices have continued to come down but seem to be looking for a floor in OCTG," one trader said.

OCTG prices averaged $1,782 per ton in July, up 0.6 percent from $1,771 per ton in June, according to a monthly pricing report compiled by Pipe Logix Inc., a subsidiary of Spears & Associates. Seamless OCTG averaged $1,927 per ton, up 0.5 percent from the previous month. Welded tags, meanwhile, inched up 0.7 percent to $1,637 per ton from $1,625 per ton in June, it said.

Several market sources lamented that buyers appear to be sitting on their hands...