The shortage of demand ahead of the summer holidays in Europe has caused the Polish welded pipe market to move on a downward trend during the past month. Local traders prefer to delay new purchases amid weakening interest from consuming industries and high inventories. Domestic welded pipe quotations in Poland have slid down by around €5-10/mt during the past month, while quotations of Italian and Bulgarian material for the Polish market have also decreased over the same period, by a maximum of €10/mt. Market insiders believe the market situation is unlikely to improve before mid-August. Nevertheless, taking into consideration current production costs and relatively firm feedstock prices, there will be a limited space for a downward price correction in the market in the days ahead.
Current domestic quotations of locally produced 3/8"-6" water and gas ERW pipes of 2.6-4.5 mm wall thickness made to EN 10255 are at €600-635/mt ($816-864/mt) delivered, exclusive of 23 percent VAT. Offers of square and rectangular hollow sections with 2-4 mm wall thickness made from S235 JRH grade hot rolled coil (HRC) according to EN 10219 are in the range of €490-510/mt ($666-694/mt) ex-works. ERW galvanized pipes made to EN 10240 are quoted for local customers at €800-815/mt ($1,088-1,108/mt) delivered.
Quotations of Italian black welded pipes of 2"-6" size with wall thickness of 2.0-4.0 mm as per EN 10219 made from S235JR grade HRC to the Polish market are at levels of €580-610/mt ($789-830/mt) CPT on actual weight basis.
Offers of Bulgarian ERW pipes and hollow sections of 2-5 mm wall thickness made from S235JR grade HRC as per EN 10219 to Polish customers are standing at an average of €570-590/mt ($775-802/mt) CPT on theoretical weight basis.
€1 = $1.36