Seamless pipe demand in Italy is still far from showing improvements. Italian suppliers have not been able to raise their prices for standard seamless pipes, keeping them unchanged over the past month amid insufficient domestic demand and attractive import offers. Prices of Ukrainian material have decreased by €40-50/mt ($45-60/mt) over the past month. During the period under review, quotations of Chinese seamless pipes have decreased by €50-60/mt ($59-74/mt), while Romanian and Czech producers have cut their offer prices by €10/mt ($13/mt). The Italian market for seamless pipes is expected to remain sluggish in the short run amid generally weak demand from consuming industries in the country, while export demand may start to recover gradually.
Current domestic prices for Italian seamless pipes of 8"-10" size as per ASTM are at about €1,100-1,150/mt ($1,439-1,504/mt) ex-works.
Export quotations of Italian seamless pipes of 6"-10" Sch 40 of grade B as per ASTM A106 are at around €1,100-1,150/mt ($1,439-1,504/mt) FCA or €1,130-1,180/mt ($1,478-1,544/mt) FOB for June-July production.
Prices for Chinese seamless pipes, 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM, are at about €670-750/mt ($876-981/mt) CFR Italy. Prices are exclusive of antidumping (AD) duties of 17.7-39.2 percent.
April production Ukrainian 2"-6" seamless pipes as per GOST, ASTM or EN are offered to the Italian market at around €730-780/mt ($955-1,020/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 €960-990/mt ($1,256-1,295/mt) CPT.
Czech origin 3"-10" seamless steel tubes (ArcelorMittal Ostrava), as per ASTM, are quoted for Italian consumers at around €940-970/mt ($1,230-1,269/mt) CPT.
€1 = $1.308