It is observed that welded pipe prices in Europe have decreased by an average of €20/meter over the past week. Although expectations of a price rise in the European welded pipe market had prevailed in the previous weeks, prices were revised downwards due to the declining hot rolled coil (HRC) quotations. Currently, European buyers think that the falling trend of welded pipe prices will continue, and so they are slowing down their purchases, while they are also avoiding orders for large tonnages for now.
As a result, a Bulgarian steel producer’s offers to Europe for ERW pipes as per EN 10219 are now at €605-635/meter ($702-737/meter) CPT. The Bulgarian welded pipe producer’s quotations to Hungary and Poland are at €610-615/meter ($708-713/meter) CPT, with other offers to the Czech Republic and Austria being at €620-625/meter ($719-725/meter) CPT, while its offers to Germany and Romania are at €630-635/meter ($731-737/meter) CPT and €605-610/meter ($702-708/meter) CPT respectively.
As Europe-based welded pipe producers are trying to benefit from the fall in global HRC prices, they continue their negotiations with HRC producers, targeting to close deals below the levels of the current price offers by ordering large tonnages. On the other hand, there are news published about the European Commission’s safeguard investigation, stating that in the final determination quota may be initiated based on countries instead of products. However, market sources believe that a quota placed just for a quarter or for half of a year, similar to Canada’s provisional safeguard measures, is more likely.