The German seamless pipe market has been quiet over the past month amid slack demand from end-users. However, German suppliers have tried to raise their offers amid higher production costs and bullish expectations for buying activity. Prices for seamless pipes in Germany have moved up by €10-20/mt (14-27/mt) over the past month. Import prices of Chinese material have decreased by a maximum of €20/mt ($27/mt) over the past month, while offers of Romanian and Italian pipes have remained mostly unchanged over the same period. The likely price trend of the German seamless pipe market in the coming period remains unclear due to the uncertainty in the raw material market and relatively weak end-user demand. Market insiders believe that it will be difficult to implement significant price increases in the coming period.
German 2"-6" seamless pipes of grade S355 made to EN 10210 are being given to local buyers at around €900-930/mt ($1,233-1,274/mt) delivered, while pipes of grade B as per ASTM A106 are at about €930-950/mt ($1,274-1,302/mt) delivered.
Export quotations of German 2"-4" seamless pipes of grade B as per ASTM A106 are in the range of €940-960/mt ($1,288-1,315/mt) FCA on theoretical weight basis.
Prices for Chinese seamless pipes, 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM A106/API 5L, are at about €600-660/mt ($822-904/mt) CFR Germany, exclusive of antidumping duties.
Romanian 4"-6" seamless pipes made to ASTM A106 of steel grade B are being offered to the German market at about €970-1,000/mt ($1,329-1,370/mt) CPT.
Prices for Italian seamless pipes of 2"-10" grade B made to ASTM A106 are at about €1,100-1,150/mt ($1,507-1,576/mt) CPT.
€1 = $1.37