Recently, Turkey has been experiencing some difficult times. Due to the two factors, firstly, due to an upward trend in the energy costs, basic consumer goods and the raw material prices globally and secondly, due to a slow trend in the economical growth rate in the US and the EU (regions in which Turkish export activity has been traditionally strong). Turkey has been affected by the abovementioned situation and the growth rate in Turkey has decreased. In addition, due to the political developments in Turkey, the inflation has increased to two-digit figures again. In this overall frame, the capital holders have started to abstain from purchases, resulting in reduction of cash flow. The import driven seamless pipe market in Turkey has also been affected by this sluggishness. The buyers in this market has experienced some difficulties to adjust themselves to the new price levels, which have increased by approximately 100 percent in the last two months, so they prefer to wait for more acceptable conditions. It can be said that the Turkish domestic seamless pipe is fairly sluggish at the moment.
In the Turkish domestic seamless pipe market, which is totally dependent on the import, the price levels have been following the footsteps of the exporting countries, lagging one month behind. For this reason, no revival has been observed in the purchasing activity regardless of the fact that the price levels will certainly go up. The price level of ST42 grade 33 mm x 3.5 mm seamless pipes are at TRY 1.9-2/kg excluding VAT, while the price levels of the API grade items with the same size are at TRY 2.4-2.5/kg excluding VAT. It is expected that the sluggishness in the market will not disappear in the near future. The sales volumes of the seamless pipes, which have been mainly used in the project based sectors, have decreased considerably due to the fact that some projects have been suspended. It is a well known fact that the overall seamless pipe prices have increased rapidly in line with its raw material - i.e. billet, has increased to the record levels in general. As a result, it is expected that no softening will be observed in the seamless pipe market in short term.