Bulgarian welded pipe producers are facing rising costs of production, while demand for their products has not yet recovered. Domestic flats producer Kremikovtzi has increased its prices of S235JR grade HRC for October production to €350-360/mt ex-works exclusive of 20 percent VAT, compared to €330-340/mt ex-works for September production. Welded pipe mills in Bulgaria have been forced to raise their quotations of ERW pipes and hollow sections made from HRC for October production by €10-50/mt over the past three weeks. However, customers have not yet accepted the new prices and no deals have been concluded so far. In the meantime, quotations of welded pipes made from CRC as well as quotations of galvanized pipes have remained at the previous levels.
Domestic prices of Bulgarian ERW pipes and hollow sections of 2-5 mm wall thickness made from S235JR grade HRC are at about €460-470/mt ex-works, exclusive of 20 percent VAT and on actual weight basis.
Current export offers of Bulgarian ERW pipes and hollow sections of 1.8-6 mm wall thickness made from S235JR grade HRC are at about €460-470/mt ex-works on a theoretical weight basis. In particular, offers of Bulgarian ERW pipes to Germany and Poland are being given at €500-510/mt CPT, while they are being given to Spain at €550/mt CPT, to Sweden at €560-570/mt CPT, and to Romania at €475-485/mt CPT.
Export offers of ERW pipes of 1.5 mm wall thickness made from HRC are being given at around €560/mt ex-works.
Export quotations of Bulgarian ERW pipes of 1.2-1.4 mm wall thickness made from DC 01 grade CRC are at €560/mt ex-works. Galvanized ERW pipes from Bulgaria made to DIN 2440/2444 are priced in the foreign markets at about €730/mt ex-works.
The extra for pressure tests is around €40/mt, while the extra for pipes with the inside welding seam removed is €20/mt.
Under current market conditions when demand is still not so strong, Bulgarian pipe producers are very cautious on the issue of increasing their prices. There is some concern about a possible further upward trend in production costs, as stocks of materials required for production are rather low in Bulgaria and as supplies from foreign and domestic sellers are limited.