Seamless pipe prices in Italy have increased after the conclusion of the holiday season. Although demand has not recovered yet, seamless pipe suppliers have lifted their quotations due to steadily rising scrap prices. Domestic and export quotations of Italian seamless pipes have increased by €50-70/mt during the past month. Over the same period offers of Chinese material have moved up by €100-110/mt. Prices of Ukrainian seamless pipes for Italy have risen by €30-50/mt in the past month. At the same time import quotations of seamless pipes from Romania and the Czech Republic have declined by €10-40/mt over the period in question, but offers are expected to rise again in the near future. Meanwhile, customers continue to be extremely reluctant to book important quantities with long-term delivery times as they still feel very uncertain about demand in their respective markets.
Current domestic prices for Italian seamless pipes of 2"-6" size grade B as per ASTM A106/API 5L are at about €1,000-1,030/mt ex-works.
Export quotations of Italian seamless pipes of 2"-6" size grade B as per ASTM A106/API 5L are at €1,040-1,060/mt FOB, excluding the trader's margin.
Prices for Chinese seamless pipes 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM A106/API 5L are at about €790-910/mt C&F Italy, exclusive of antidumping (AD) duties (in the range of 17.7-39.2 percent depending on the producer).
October production Ukrainian 2"-8" seamless pipes ex-Interpipe grade B as per ASTM A106 are offered to the Italian market at around €790-840/mt DDU (25.1 percent AD duty is not included in this price range).
Prices for Romanian origin seamless steel tubes (ArcelorMittal Romania) 3"-6" grade B made to ASTM A106 are at about €920-935/mt CPT, while 12"-14" pipes are at €950-960/mt CPT.
Czech seamless pipes, made to API 5L, grade B, are quoted for Italian consumers at around €965-980/mt CPT for 6"-8" size.