Italian seamless pipe market under pressure from weak demand

Wednesday, 19 August 2015 15:44:41 (GMT+3)   |  
       

Trading activity in the Italian seamless pipe market has been relatively scarce over the past month on account of the summer vacation season. Both local and foreign buyers are cautious and are buying only necessary volumes. Over the past month, domestic seamless pipe prices in Italy have slid down by €20-50/mt, while prices on US dollar basis have decreased by $5-38/mt in the same period due to the fluctuation of the exchange rate. Over the same period, offers of Chinese material have moved down by €10-30/mt. Prices of Ukrainian seamless pipes for Italy have declined by €45-50/mt, while import quotations of seamless pipes from Romania have decreased by €40/mt. Market players hope for an increase in demand after the summer holidays and remain upbeat on the prospects for later this year as end-user demand may improve slowly.
 
Current domestic prices for Italian seamless pipes of 2"-6" size as per ASTM or EN are at about €980-1,025/mt ($1,085-1,135/mt) ex-works.
 
Export quotations of Italian seamless pipes of 2"-6" Sch 40 of grade B as per ASTM A106 are at around €1,000-1,050/mt ($1,107-1,162/mt) FOB.
 
Prices for Chinese seamless pipes, 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM, are at about €540-600/mt ($598-664/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 €740-770/mt ($819-852/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 €890-920/mt ($985-1,018/mt) CPT.
 
Czech origin 3"-10" seamless steel tubes (ArcelorMittal Ostrava) as per ASTM are quoted for Italian consumers at around €885-900/mt ($980-996/mt) CPT. 
 
€1 = $1.107


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