Although the Ramadan holiday is over in Iran, the market for seamless pipes is still sluggish. However, while local stockists' prices continue to decline, foreign suppliers have continued to lift their quotations on the back of higher production costs and expected better demand in the coming period. In particular, over the past month, local stockists in Iran have decreased their prices by $15-280/mt. Import quotations of Chinese seamless pipes have stayed unchanged. Ukrainian seamless pipes have moved up by a maximum of $20/mt during the past month, while quotations of Russian material have increased by $50-60/mt. In the coming period, local suppliers of seamless pipes in Iran will likely be forced to raise their prices following higher import offers and rising raw material costs. Meanwhile, demand for seamless pipes in Iran is expected to improve driven by investments in energy project infrastructure and by the expansion of construction activity. As a result, Iran's seamless pipe market is expected to remain on an upward trend.
Local stockists' prices for domestic production seamless pipes of ¾"-3" size are at about $1,440-2,330/mt ex-warehouse, compared with $1,525-2,480/mt ex-warehouse one month ago.
Import offers of Chinese seamless pipes, 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM A106/API 5L, are being given to the local Iranian market at the previous level, i.e., at $1,050-1,100/mt CFR Bandar Abbas.
Quotations of Ukrainian seamless pipes of 2"-12" size grade B as per ASTM A106 are at about $1,250-1,270/mt CFR Bandar Abbas for October production, against $1,235-1,250/mt CFR one month ago.
Russian pipes of 2"-8" grade B as per ASTM A106 are being offered to northern Iranian ports at $1,200-1,250/mt CFR Anzali, against $1,140-1,200/mt CFR in the middle of August.
Iranian stockists' domestic prices for locally produced seamless pipes:
($/t, ex-warehouse)
Diameter Price Change*
¾" 2,000 -275
½" 1,915 -280
1" 2,330 -150
1 ½" 1,800 -15
2 ½" 1,565 -40
3" 1,440 -85
*over the past four weeks