Demand in the Italian welded pipe market is still rather poor. Customers prefer to not purchase large quantities before the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays in Europe. Domestic and export prices of Italian welded pipes have declined by €20-30/mt over the past month. On the other hand, most import offers of welded pipes to the Italian market have decreased by €10-40/mt during the period under review.
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 €425-450/mt ex-works (here and below on a theoretical weight basis and excluding 20 percent VAT). Italian producer Arvedi's quotations for welded pipes up to 8" of L235 steel grade as per EN 10208, used for combustible fluids, are at €520/mt delivered for December production. Offers from Italian mill Ilva for the same pipes of 10"-12" size of L290/L360 steel grade are at an average of €590/mt delivered (€550/mt ex-works), while offers of 14"-20" size are standing at €640/mt delivered (€600/mt ex-works). Domestic prices for standard-size precision welded tubes E235 grade as per EN 10305-3 are at about €610-620/mt ex-works. Pickled pipes of sizes up to 6" from Italian producers are being offered to the domestic market at around €580/mt ex-works, with galvanized pipes at about €670/mt ex-works.
Current local offers of precision welded thin wall pipes made to EN 10305-3 are at €720-770/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 €670-720/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 €920/mt ex-works.
Export quotations of Italian 2"-6" welded pipes as per EN 10219 are at about €455-480/mt FOB (transportation by sea) or €430-450/mt ex-works (transportation overland). In particular, offer prices for Spain are in ranges of €485-510/mt C&F or €460-480/mt CPT.
Offers from most Turkish suppliers of industrial welded pipes with 2-4 mm wall thickness made from HR coils are standing at an average of €435-460/mt C&F to Italy and €445-470/mt C&F to Spain. The prices of Turkish welded pipes with 1.5 mm wall thickness made from CR coils are at about €500-530/mt C&F to the Italian market and at €510-540/mt C&F to the Spanish market. Offers of Turkish 10"-12" welded pipes of L290 steel grade made to EN 10208 from Yucel Boru to Italy are on average at €560/mt DDU. Turkish cold-formed GTC (galvanized threaded and coupling) steel pipes of 1"-4" size S195T grade as per EN 10255 are offered to the Italian market by Borusan Mannesmann at around €680/mt C&F.
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 €510-530/mt C&F. Offer prices of Romanian welded pipes (ArcelorMittal) up to 10" of L235 steel grade as per EN 10208 are at about €490/mt including delivery inside Italy for December production material. Offers of Bulgarian welded pipes to the Spanish market are standing at an average of €480-520/mt CPT.
Under the influence of the slight price increase in the southern European flat steel market, welded pipe producers may try to lift their quotations in January, though one of the Italian manufacturers, Marcegaglia, has already announced a further pipe price increase of €40-50/mt. It may be expected that other welded pipe producers will also follow the upward trend. Market players expect outputs will increase again in the second quarter of 2010.