Buyer activity has remained weak in the Iranian seamless pipe market amid political and economic instability in the country. Given that seamless pipe suppliers have been forced to make reductions, Iranian traders have decreased their offers by $30-35/mt over the past month. At the same time, import offers of Chinese material have decreased by a minimum of $30/mt over the same period. Offers of seamless pipes from Ukraine have declined by a maximum of $20/mt, while quotations of Russian material have stayed almost unchanged. Most market players doubt that demand for seamless pipes will recover soon. Given sluggish business activity and the downward price trend in the global market, seamless pipe offers in Iran may continue to weaken in the coming month.
Local stockists' prices for domestic production seamless pipes of 1"-3" size are at about $1,570-2,020/mt ex-warehouse, down $30-35/mt over the past month, depending on sizes.
Import offers of Chinese seamless pipes, 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM A106/API 5L, are being given to the local Iranian market at $800-930/mt CFR Bandar Abbas.
Quotations of Ukrainian seamless pipes of 2"-8" size grade B as per ASTM A106 are at about $1,150-1,200/mt CFR Bandar Abbas for October production.
Russian pipes of 8"-10" grade B as per ASTM A106 are being offered to northern Iranian ports at $1,180-1,200/mt CFR from Tagmet, while 2"-3" pipes are quoted at around $1,430-1,450/mt CFR from Sinarsky Pipe Plant for delivery in November-December 2012.
Iranian stockists' domestic prices for locally produced seamless pipes:
Diameter | Price (($/mt, ex-warehouse) | Change* |
1" | 2,020 | -30 |
1 1/2" | 1,965 | -35 |
2" | 1,570 | -30 |
3" | 1,570 | -30 |
*over the past four weeks | ||