The Chinese welded pipe market has continued to be characterized by weakness after the Spring Festival, with infrastructure construction projects largely not getting underway yet. Chinese mills' domestic prices for welded pipes have stayed unchanged over the past two weeks, while traders have cut their offers by a maximum of RMB 50/mt ($9/mt) during the same period. However, the sales performance in the market has not recovered to normal levels yet with market participants unsure about the outlook. Export offers of welded pipes from China have declined by a maximum of $10/mt over the period under review due to the unpromising market conditions. Market insiders think China's raw material market is likely to keep running at low price levels in the short term, providing no solid support for the welded pipe market, which will also be impacted by other negative factors such as the weak Chinese real estate market, tight liquidity in the steel sector, and the sluggish trading activity of foreign buyers.
Current offers of locally produced 2"-6" welded pipes of grade B as per ASTM A53 are being given to the Chinese domestic market at an average of RMB 3,350-3,500/mt ($534-558/mt) ex-works, while domestic offers of welded pipes of grade Q195-235 are at levels of RMB 2,800-3,100/mt ($447-495/mt) ex-works. These local market welded pipe prices include 17 percent VAT.
Traders in Shanghai are offering Q215-Q235 welded pipes made to GB/T3091 at around RMB 2,600-2,750/mt ($415-439/mt) ex-warehouse, while stockists in the cities of Tianjin and Beijing are offering similar pipes at RMB 2,430-2,670/mt ($388-426/mt) ex-warehouse.
Current export prices of welded pipes from large Chinese mills, 2"-10" grade B according to ASTM A53, are at around $450-470/mt FOB on actual weight basis.
$1 = RMB 6.26