Demand in the welded pipe market in Turkey remains slow as buyers are holding back, convinced that prices will fall further. However, Turkish pipe producers have been resisting reductions in their prices and have left their offers mostly unchanged over the past two weeks, though with some decreases of a maximum of $10/mt. Meanwhile, Turkish buyers are generally passive and rarely make bookings in light of weak demand from consuming industries, while most foreign buyers prefer to take a wait-and-see approach amid continuously falling feedstock quotations. The situation in the Turkish welded pipe market is unlikely to improve in the near term amid weak demand from almost all markets and the continuous downward trend in the global market.
Most offers of Turkish ERW pipes and hollow sections with 2-4 mm wall thickness made from hot rolled coil (HRC) of S235JR grade as per EN 10219 are being given to the domestic market at about $650-660/mt ex-works on theoretical weight basis, while ERW pipes of 1.2-1.5 mm wall thickness made from cold rolled coil (CRC) of DC01 steel grade are in the range of $730-800/mt ex-works. Water and gas ERW pipes of 2.0-4.5 mm wall thickness made to EN 10255/DIN 2440 from S235 grade HR products are being offered in the domestic market at $680-690/mt ex-works.
Turkish producers are offering ERW pipes and hollow sections made from HRC of steel grade S235 JRH as per EN 10219 to foreign customers at around $640-660/mt FOB, while quotations of cold rolled pipes of steel grades S235 and S275 are at around $710-760/mt FOB. Water and gas ERW pipes with 20-114 mm diameter and with 2.0-4.5 mm wall thickness made to EN 10255 from S235 grade HR products are being offered for export at about $670-690/mt FOB.