Activity in the Italian seamless pipe market remains dull amid seasonal factors and the approach of the winter holidays in Europe. Meanwhile, domestic and export quotations of Italian seamless pipes have remained mostly unchanged over the past month. In the import segment, offers of Chinese material have declined by €10/mt (though rising by $4-5/mt in dollar terms), while prices of Ukrainian pipes have gone down by €20/mt ($7-8/mt) because of slow buying in the EU. Romanian and Czech producers have cut their offers by €20-30/mt ($1-14/mt) over the period under review. Trading is expected to be lackluster in the Italian market until mid-January. However, seamless pipe suppliers may raise their offers backed by the increase anticipated in raw material prices.
Current domestic prices for Italian seamless pipes of 2"-10" size of grade B as per ASTM are at about €950-1,100/mt ($1,307-1,514/mt) ex-works.
Export quotations of Italian seamless pipes of 2"-4" Sch 40 of grade B as per ASTM A106 are at around €950-1,030/mt ($1,307-1,417/mt) FCA or €980-1,060/mt ($1,349-1,459/mt) FOB, for February production. Export offers of 8"-10" seamless pipes are at about €1,120-1,140/mt ($1,541-1,569/mt) FOB.
Prices for Chinese seamless pipes, 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM, are at about €640-700/mt ($881-963/mt) CFR Italy. Prices are exclusive of antidumping (AD) duties of 17.7-39.2 percent.
December production Ukrainian 2"-6" seamless pipes as per GOST, ASTM or EN are offered to the Italian market at around €710-730/mt ($977-1,005/mt) CPT (12.3-13.8 percent AD duty not included).
Prices for Romanian origin seamless steel tubes (ArcelorMittal Roman) of 3"-10" grade B made to ASTM or as per EN are at about €950-1,000/mt ($1,307-1,376/mt) CPT.
Czech origin 3"-10" seamless steel tubes (ArcelorMittal Ostrava), as per ASTM, are quoted for Italian consumers at around €960-980/mt ($1,321-1,349/mt) CPT.
€1 = $1.376