End-user demand for seamless pipes is still sluggish in Turkey due to financing issues, while traders have excessive stocks. As a result, foreign seamless pipe suppliers have mostly cut their offers to Turkish buyers, taking into account the global downtrend. Thus, prices for Ukrainian seamless pipes have declined by $65-85/mt over the past month, while prices of Russian seamless pipes have moved down by around $60/mt over the same period. At the same time, import quotations of Romanian material have decreased by a minimum of $30/mt. Import quotations of Chinese seamless pipes have remained almost unchanged. Although the construction season has already started in Turkey, buying activity in the seamless pipe market has failed to record any improvements, though demand is expected to recover in the coming period. Market players expect that large steel-consuming infrastructure projects in Turkey such as bridges, railroads, pipelines and airports should increase seamless pipe consumption in the country.
Chinese suppliers are offering seamless pipes of 4"-14" grade B made to ASTM A106 to the Turkish market in the price range of $880-950/mt CFR. Offers of 24" Sch 80 seamless pipes of grade 6 as per ASTM A333 from China are at around $1,650-1,660/mt CFR, while 7"-9 5/8" casing of L80 grade made to API 5CT are quoted at about $1,170-1,190/mt CFR.
April production pipes from Ukrainian producers of 2"-6" grade B as per ASTM A106/API 5L are being offered to the Turkish market at about $935-960/mt CFR, while pipes with 60.3-168.3 mm diameter of steel grade 10, 20 made to GOST are quoted at around $915-935/mt CFR.
Russian producer ChTPZ is offering June production seamless pipes with 57-114 mm diameter of steel grade 10, 20 made to GOST to Turkey at about $920-940/mt CFR, while seamless pipes with 57-219 mm diameter of steel grade 20 made to GOST from Russian producer TMK Group (Volzhsky Pipe Plant) are quoted at around $980-1,010/mt CFR.
Import offers of seamless pipes from Romania (ArcelorMittal), 3"-10" pipes of grade B made to ASTM A106 or API 5L, are being given to the Turkish market at around $1,260-1,270/mt CPT, while offers of 16" seamless pipes are at about $1,490-1,500/mt CPT.