Buying activity in the local German seamless pipe market has improved somewhat, and so some local mills have been able to raise their domestic prices by a maximum of €20/mt ($27/mt) over the past month. At the same time, facing subdued demand in the major overseas sales outlets, German producers have reduced their export offers by €20-30/mt ($27-41/mt). Import prices of Chinese material have decreased by around €20/mt ($27/mt) over the past month amid the negative trend in the Chinese market, while offers of Romanian and Italian suppliers have increased by €30-50/mt ($41-68/mt). Meanwhile, most German buyers prefer to adopt wait-and-see tactics in order to get a clearer understanding of the market situation. On the whole, market players expect no dramatic changes in the market until November, and so seamless pipe suppliers will most likely keep their official prices unchanged, but may give discounts when signing contracts.
German 2"-6" seamless pipes of grade S355 made to EN 10210 are being given to local buyers at around €880-920/mt ($1,190-1,245/mt) delivered, while pipes of grade B as per ASTM A106 are at about €920-950/mt ($1,245-1,285/mt) delivered.
Export quotations of German 2"-6" seamless pipes of grade B as per ASTM A106 are in the range of €950-970/mt ($1,285-1,312/mt) FCA on theoretical weight basis.
Prices for Chinese seamless pipes 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM A106/API 5L are at about €620-680/mt ($839-920/mt) CFR Germany, exclusive of antidumping duties.
Romanian 4"-6" seamless pipes made to ASTM A106 of steel grade B are being offered to the German market at about €1,000-1,030/mt ($1,353-1,393/mt) CPT.
Prices for Italian seamless pipes 2"-10" grade B made to ASTM A106 are at about €1,100-1,150/mt ($1,488-1,556/mt) CPT.
€1 = $1.353