After holding back for a few weeks after the Christmas break, European seamless pipe suppliers have returned to the Italian market with prices largely unchanged as demand in the local Italian market has remained very low after the winter holidays. Both domestic and export prices for Italian seamless pipes have stayed almost unchanged in euro terms over the past month, but in dollar terms prices have declined by $96-117/mt due to currency fluctuations. Quotations of Romanian and Czech pipes have not changed in euro terms, but have lost $103-109/mt no dollar basis. The weakening of the euro has led to higher import offers of Chinese and Ukrainian material. In particular, import offers of Chinese seamless pipes have moved up by €55-60/mt over the past month, while their dollar equivalents have remained stable. Prices for Ukrainian material have increased by €50/mt, but on dollar basis have declined by $30-32/mt. Demand for Italian standard seamless pipes from both local and foreign buyers is expected to remain low during the first quarter amid the weak economic backdrop. However, export demand for Italian premium OCTG products, particularly in regions such as the Middle East and Africa, is expected to strengthen.
Current domestic prices for Italian seamless pipes of 2"-6" size as per ASTM or EN are at about €980-1,020/mt ($1,098-1,142/mt) ex-works.
Export quotations of Italian seamless pipes of 2"-6" Sch 40 of grade B as per ASTM A106 are at around €1,000-1,050/mt ($1,120-1,176/mt) FOB.
Prices for Chinese seamless pipes, 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM, are at about €615-670/mt ($689-750/mt) CFR Italy. Prices are exclusive of antidumping (AD) duties of 17.7-39.2 percent.
Ukrainian 2"-6" seamless pipes as per GOST, ASTM or EN are offered to the Italian market at around €830-850/mt ($930-952/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 €950-980/mt ($1,064-1,098/mt) CPT.
Czech origin 3"-10" seamless steel tubes (ArcelorMittal Ostrava), as per ASTM, are quoted for Italian consumers at around €920-950/mt ($1,030-1,064/mt) CPT.
€1 = $1.12