During the past two weeks, Bulgarian welded pipe offers to the European market have increased with the support of the rises seen in global hot rolled coil (HRC) prices.
A welded pipe producer in Bulgaria has increased its offers for some European countries by an average of €10/mt during the past two weeks to €590-630/mt ($690-737/mt) CPT. Accordingly, quotations for the product in question from Bulgaria to Hungary and Poland have increased to €600-610/mt ($702-714/mt) CPT, with other offers to the Czech Republic and Austria being at €610-620/mt ($714-725/mt) CPT, offers to Romania are at €590-600/mt ($690-702/mt) CPT and prices offers to Germany are at €620-630/mt ($725-737/mt) CPT. The order books of the Bulgarian producer in question were 60 percent full before the upward revision of its welded pipe offers. SteelOrbis has been informed that the European market is still maintaining its wait-and-see stance in the current week as no new deals have been heard.
Meanwhile, the preliminary report regarding the European Union (EU) safeguard investigation is expected to be announced in July, with a presentiment that the safeguard investigation on steel imports will result in quotas. Currently, welded pipe producers in Europe are buying HRC from non-member states such as Turkey and Serbia. However, a potential quota will force their demand for HRC to veer to other countries. If this scenario materializes, EU-based HRC mills are expected to gain a more dominant position in the supply chain.
On the other hand, having slowed down after the announcement of the safeguard investigation, welded pipe exports from countries like Turkey or CIS region to the EU have now almost become stagnant. As a result, orders given to European welded pipe producers are expected to increase.