Demand remains quiet in Iranian seamless pipe market

The Iranian seamless pipe market has remained quiet. Demand for seamless pipes is still rather weak in the country as local buyers are extremely careful in view of unstable domestic currency. Over the past month, local stockists in Iran have maintained their prices at unchanged levels. Import quotations of Chinese seamless pipes have decreased by $50/mt. Ukrainian seamless pipes have moved down by $20/mt during the past month, while quotations of Russian material have stayed unchanged over the same period.
 
In its quarterly World Economic Outlook report, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted that Iran's inflation will reach 22.5 percent by the end of 2011, showing 10.1 percent growth in comparison to 2010. An improvement is unlikely to be seen in the seamless pipe market in the coming period amid the depreciation of the US dollar in Iran and lack of demand.
 
Local stockists' prices for domestic production seamless pipes of ¾"-2 ½" size stand at the previous levels, i.e., at $1,565-2,330/mt ex-warehouse.
 
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 $1,000-1,050/mt CFR Bandar Abbas.
 
Quotations of Ukrainian seamless pipes of 2"-12" size grade B as per ASTM A106 are at about $1,230-1,250/mt CFR Bandar Abbas for November production, against $1,250-1,270/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.
 
 
Iranian stockists' domestic prices for locally produced seamless pipes:
 
($/mt, ex-warehouse)
 
Diameter          Price     Change*
 
¾"                  2,000       0
 
½"                  1,915       0
 
1"                   2,330       0
 
2 ½"               1,565        0
 
 
*over the past four weeks