Prices of Italian welded pipes continue to increase slowly because HRC prices have also risen by just a small margin in Italy to €400/mt ex-works. Italian tube mills have raised their prices for welded pipes by €10-40/mt over the past month. An improvement in demand is being currently noted in the Italian welded pipe market as the automotive and construction sectors are showing some signs of recovery. The main Italian pipe producers such as Marcegaglia, Arvedi and Ilva confirm that their order volumes have improved significantly in the last month. Some producers will probably try to raise prices in September by €20-30/mt in order to defray the increased production cost and to test demand from end-users. However, market participants do not expect any significant increase before the fourth quarter of this year, as the traditionally quiet summer period needs to be taken into consideration.
In particular, current local prices for Italian welded pipes of 2"-6" size with wall thickness of 2.0-4.0 mm as per EN 10219 made of S235JR HR coils are at about €430-450/mt ex-works (here and below on a theoretical weight basis). At the same time Marcegaglia's prices of hollow sections as per EN 10219 made from S235JR HR coils are around €540/mt. Ilva's quotations of welded pipes of 10"-12" size of L290 steel grade as per EN 10208, used for combustible fluids, are at an average of €630/mt delivered in August (€590/mt ex-works), and at around €700/mt delivered in September (€660/mt ex-works). Domestic prices for standard size precision welded tubes E235 grade as per EN 10305-3 are about €590-600/mt ex-works.
Current offers of precision welded thin wall pipes made to EN 10305-3 are at €750-800/mt ex-works for pipes made from CRC DC01 grade (in particular, 60 x 1.0 mm and 102 x 1.2 mm pipes) and at €700-750/mt ex-works for pipes made from HRC S235JR grade (in particular, 154 x 1.5 mm and 219 x 2.5 mm pipes). Large diameter welded pipes (in particular, 280 x 3.0 mm) are quoted at about €950/mt ex-works.
Export quotations of Italian 2"-6" welded pipes as per EN 10219 are about €460-480/mt FOB (transportation by sea) or €430-450/mt ex-works (transportation overland). In particular, offer prices for Spain are in ranges of €480-500/mt C&F or €460-480/mt CPT.
Offers from most Turkish suppliers of industrial welded pipes with 2-4 mm wall thickness made of HR coils are standing at an average of €440-460/mt C&F to Italy and €450-470/mt C&F to Spain. The prices of Turkish welded pipes with 1.5 mm wall thickness made of CR coils are at about €490-515/mt C&F to the Italian market and at €500-520/t C&F to the Spanish market.
Quotations of Indian black welded pipes of 1"-6" size as per BS 1387 or DIN 2440/2444 or EN 10255 to the Italian market are at the level of €515-530/mt C&F. Offer prices of Romanian welded pipes (ArcelorMittal) up to 8" of L235 as per EN 10208 are at about €450/mt including delivery inside Italy for August production material with delivery in September, but stand at around €465/mt for October delivery and at €485/mt for November delivery. Offers of Bulgarian welded pipes to the Spanish market are standing at an average of €520-550/mt CPT.