The Italian welded pipe market has seen a slow start to the New Year with slack buying activity amid poor demand from consuming sectors. Domestic and export prices for Italian welded pipes have remained unchanged over the past month, while import offers have also remained mostly stable amid low trading. However, Italian buyers still prefer to maintain a cautious approach until the market trend becomes clearer. In general, market participants expect a price increase in the coming period on the back of the anticipated upturn in the flat steel segment.
Current local prices for Italian welded pipes of 2"-6" size with wall thickness of 2.0-4.0 mm as per EN 10219 made from base steel grade S235JR hot rolled coil (HRC) are at about €560-600/mt ($758-813/mt) ex-works. Prices are shown on actual weight basis and excluding 21 percent VAT. Domestic prices for standard-size precision welded tubes, E235 grade as per EN 10305-3 (not normalized), are at about €670-690/mt ($907-935/mt) ex-works.
Export quotations of Italian 2"-6" welded pipes as per EN 10219 are at about €590-630/mt ($799-853/mt) FOB (transportation by sea) or €560-600/mt ($758-813/mt) ex-works (transportation overland). In particular, offer prices for Spain are in the range of €590-630/mt ($799-853/mt) CPT.
Offers from Turkish suppliers of industrial welded pipes with 2-4 mm wall thickness made from HR coils are being given at an average of €500-530/mt ($677-718/mt) CFR to Italy and at €520-540/mt ($704-731/mt) CFR to Spain.
Offers of Bulgarian welded pipes to the Italian market are standing at an average of €570-610/mt ($772-826/mt) CPT on theoretical weight basis.
€1 = $1.35