The Italian welded pipe market has seen its difficult situation worsen considerably over the past six weeks due to the ongoing economic uncertainty, which keeps affecting buying activity. Italian pipe producers have been forced to cut their quotations due to poor demand, lower import offers and falling quotations of flat steel. In particular, currently in the local Italian market, hot rolled coil (HRC) prices are at €460-470/mt ex-works (excluding 21 percent VAT) from Riva Group and at €480-490/mt ex-works from ArcelorMittal. Domestic and export prices for Italian welded pipes have gone down by €30-40/mt over the past six weeks. Turkish suppliers have cut their welded pipe offers for Italian customers by a maximum of €40-60/mt over the period under review. Over the same period, import offers of Bulgarian welded pipes have decreased by €40-50/mt. Meanwhile, demand remains sluggish with buyers taking great care to avoid losses by buying material in small quantities, fearing that the economic situation could deteriorate further. The market outlook for the coming period remains gloomy amid financial problems and political instability in the country.
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 from base steel grade S235JR HR coils are at about €560-590/mt ex-works. Prices are shown on actual weight basis and excluding 20 percent VAT. Domestic prices for standard-size precision welded tubes E235 grade as per EN 10305-3 are at about €700-710/mt ex-works.
Export quotations of Italian 2"-6" welded pipes as per EN 10219 are at about €590-630/mt FOB (transportation by sea) or €560-600/mt ex-works (transportation overland). In particular, offer prices for Spain are in the range of €590-640/mt CPT.
Offers from Turkish suppliers of industrial welded pipes with 2-4 mm wall thickness made from HR coils are being given at an average of €540-580/mt CFR to Italy and at €570-600/mt CFR to Spain. The prices of Turkish welded pipes with 1.5 mm wall thickness made from cold rolled coils (CRC) are at about €610-650/mt CFR to the Italian market and at €630-670/mt CFR to the Spanish market.
Offers of Bulgarian welded pipes to the Spanish market are standing at an average of €600-610/mt CPT on theoretical weight basis.