Emirati traders are still cautious as regards seamless pipe purchases as demand from consuming industries remains slow in the UAE. At the same time, foreign seamless pipe suppliers are adopting different price policies. Thus, quotations of Chinese and Romanian seamless pipes for Emirati buyers have declined by $20-30/mt over the past month. Over the same period, import offers of Ukrainian pipes for the UAE have gone up by $35-65/mt, while quotations of South African pipes have increased by $50-60/mt in the same period. Prices of Argentinian, Japanese and German material have not been revised during the given period. Market players think that seamless pipe suppliers may further revise their offers upwards given higher substrate costs and anticipated better buying activity in autumn with the implementation of new construction work and oil and gas projects.
Most offers of seamless pipes of 2"-8" grade B made to ASTM/API from most Chinese mills are being given to the local UAE market at $680-700/mt CFR, while ¾" pipes are priced at around $800/mt CFR and ½" pipes are pricedat about $900/mt CFR.
Quotations of Ukrainian (Interpipe) seamless pipes, 2"-6" Sch 40 grade B made to ASTM/API, are at $1,050-1,075/mt CFR, while 8"-10" pipes are at $1,065-1,095/mt CFR.
Seamless pipes from Romania (ArcelorMittal) of 3"-10" grade B made to ASTM are quoted at about $1,310-1,350/mt CFR.
South African (ArcelorMittal) seamless pipes, 3"-6" grade B made to ASTM/API, are being quoted to the UAE in the range of $1,050-1,090/mt CFR.
Offers of Argentinian (Tenaris) seamless pipes of 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM A106/API 5L to the UAE are at $1,450-1,500/mt CFR, 8"-10" pipes are at $1,600/mt CFR, while 12" pipes are at $1,650/mt CFR.
Quotations from France and Germany (V&M) and from Japan (NSSMC) for seamless pipes of 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM/API are at about $1,350-1,400/mt CFR, while 10"-12" pipes are at around $1,450-1,530/mt CFR.