Over the past two weeks, a Bulgarian producer’s price offers for ERW welded pipes as per EN 10219 to some European Union countries have remained unchanged in the range of €580-620/mt ($684-732/mt) CPT. Accordingly, quotations for the product in question from Bulgaria to Hungary and Poland have remained at €590-600/mt ($696-709/mt) CPT, with other offers to the Czech Republic and Austria being at €600-610/mt ($709-720/mt) CPT, offers to Romania are still at €580-590/mt ($684-696/mt) CPT and prices offers to Germany are at €610-620/mt ($720-732/mt) CPT. However, buyers are making firm bids at least €10/mt below the current price ranges and are postponing their bookings as they are insisting on discounts. As a result, orders received by the Bulgarian producer from the countries in question have decreased and even its order books for June deliveries are half full, while demand received for subsequent months is insufficient. Thus, it seems that buyers are in a strong position when asking for discounts and the producer will likely reduce its prices if demand remains slack.
€1 = $1.18