The Italian seamless pipe market is still characterized by quiet activity. However, over the past month, Italian seamless pipe suppliers have managed to keep their domestic and export prices unchanged, with pressure from imports having less of an impact on prices due to the weaker euro. Some import offers have increased amid the strengthening of the US dollar against the euro. During the period under review, offers of Chinese material have increased by €20-30/mt. Prices of Ukrainian seamless pipes for Italy have risen by €45/mt in the past month, while import quotations of seamless pipes from Romania and the Czech Republic have stayed mostly unchanged. It is expected that prices for Italian seamless pipes will start to move up heading into the second quarter driven by higher import offers, anticipated higher raw material costs and a slight recovery in the international market.
Current domestic prices for Italian seamless pipes of 2"-6" size as per ASTM or EN are at about €980-1,000/mt ($1,049-1,070/mt) ex-works.
Export quotations of Italian seamless pipes of 2"-6" Sch 40 of grade B as per ASTM A106 are at around €1,000-1,030/mt ($1,070-1,102/mt) FOB.
Prices for Chinese seamless pipes, 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM, are at about €620-670/mt ($663-717/mt) CFR Italy. Prices are exclusive of antidumping (AD) duties of 17.7-39.2 percent.
Ukrainian 2"-6" seamless pipes as per GOST, ASTM or EN are offered to the Italian market at around €850-870/mt ($910-931/mt) CPT (12.3-13.8 percent AD duty not included).
Prices for Romanian origin seamless steel tubes (ArcelorMittal Roman) of 3"-10" grade B made to ASTM or as per EN are at about €920-950/mt ($984-1,017/mt) CPT.
Czech origin 3"-10" seamless steel tubes (ArcelorMittal Ostrava), as per ASTM, are quoted for Italian consumers at around €900-930/mt ($963-995/mt) CPT.
€1 = $1.07