The Chinese seamless pipe market has remained generally sluggish due to a lack of demand from both local and foreign buyers. Over the past two weeks, domestic quotations of Chinese seamless pipes have moved up by a small margin of RMB 30-50/mt ($5-8/mt) due to higher production costs and the slow improvement of trading activity, while export offers have stayed unchanged for the time being amid unreleased demand from oversea buyers. Despite the slight price upturn in the domestic market and the approach of the traditional strong season for sales, most market players agree that seamless pipe prices will not see any strong increases yet as the slowly recovering downstream demand and overcapacity will continue to weigh on seamless pipe market.
Domestic prices of 4"-8" seamless pipes according to GB/8162-8163 are varying at around RMB 3,830-4,150/mt ($618-670/mt) ex-works, including 17 percent VAT.
Chinese ex-stock prices for 2"-8" seamless pipes according to GB/8162-8163 in Shanghai are at around RMB 3,150-3,450/mt ($508-557/mt) ex-warehouse, including 17 percent VAT, while traders in Tianjin and Beijing are offering similar pipes at around RMB 3,100-3,400/mt ($500-549/mt) ex-warehouse.
Current export quotations from most Chinese manufacturers for 2"-6" Sch40 grade B seamless pipes according to ASTM A106/API 5L are on average at $510-550/mt FOB.
$1 = RMB 6.2