Demand for seamless pipes remains sluggish in Turkey. End-user activity has declined during the summer period and thus traders have reduced their purchases. Offers of Chinese seamless pipes have increased by $5-30/mt over the past month due to higher production costs in China. Import quotations of Ukrainian seamless pipes have remained at previous levels. Offers of Russian seamless pipes on dollar basis have moved up by $20-70/mt due to currency fluctuations between the euro and the US dollar.
According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), in May 2010 Turkey imported 17,100 metric tons of seamless pipes, indicating a decrease of 32.7 percent from the April level, but up 96.65 percent year on year. Imports of seamless pipes to Turkey for the first five months of this year reached 80,970 metric tons, up 5.8 percent on the corresponding period of last year. The main suppliers of seamless pipes to Turkey remain Russia, China and Ukraine. However, market participants foresee a slowdown in the Turkish seamless pipe market in the coming period due to the summer holidays and the month of Ramadan. Meanwhile, import offers of seamless pipes may rise in September when the seasonal lull is expected to be over.
Current quotations for Chinese seamless pipes 2"-8" grade B made to ASTM A106 are in the range of $975-1,040/mt C&F Turkey's Marmara Sea ports, while 10"-16" pipes are at $1,020-1,055/mt C&F. Offers of seamless pipes with diameters of 60.3-88.9 mm of steel grade 37.0 made to DIN 2448/1629 are being given to the Turkish market at about $1,050-1,100/mt C&F.
August-September production pipes from Ukrainian producer Interpipe with diameter of 42-159 mm made of steel grade 10, 20 according to GOST 8731/8732 are being offered to the Turkish market at about $900-920/mt C&F, while 168-377 mm seamless pipes are quoted for the Turkish market at $910-930/mt C&F.
Duferco was offering August-September production Ukrainian seamless pipes 70-168 mm diameter of 10, 20 steel grades according to GOST 8731/8732 at around $975-980/mt C&F, but currently has stopped giving offers because of its intention to revise export quotations.
Russian producer Uraltrubostal (Pervouralsky Novotrubny Works) does not currently give any offers for the Turkish market because of strong demand for seamless pipes in Russia and the high price levels there.
Seamless pipes of Volzhsky Pipe (TMK, Russia) with 42-219 mm diameter made to GOST 8731/8732 from steel grade 10, 20 are being offered to the Turkish market at $960-965/mt C&F, while prices for pipes with 219-426 mm diameter made from steel grade 10, 20 to GOST 8731/8732 are at $1,065-1,070/mt C&F.
Seamless hot-formed pipes with 70-168 mm diameter, of 10, 20 steel grade, made to GOST from Sinarsky PP (TMK, Russia) are quoted for the Turkish market at $1,090-1,100/mt C&F.
Quotations of seamless pipes from Seversky PP (TMK, Russia) with 219-355 mm diameter made to GOST 8731/8732 are being given to the Turkish market at about $1,090-1,100/mt C&F.
Pipes with 114-219 mm diameter of steel grade 10, 20 made to GOST 8731/8732 from Taganrog SW (TMK, Russia) are offered to Turkey at $960-965/mt CF.
Import offers of seamless pipes from Romania 2"-6" made to ASTM A106 are being given to the local market of Turkey at $1,275-1,320/mt CPT.
Czech seamless boiler tubes made to DIN 2448/17175, St35.8, are quoted for Turkish consumers at around $1,420-1,460/mt CPT for 26.9-31.8 mm outside diameter.