During the past week, Turkish producers’ offer range for ERW pipes and hollow sections with 2-4 mm wall thickness made from hot rolled coil (HRC) of S235 grade as per EN 10219 to their domestic market has remained stable week on week at $610-660/mt ex-works.
As relations between Turkey and the US have started to recover, the Turkish lira has regained strength to below 5.60 against the US dollar. In addition, market players think that levels of below 5.50 may be seen again amid the market expectation that the US may cut the duty on steel imports from Turkey from 50 percent to 25 percent. Due to this expectation, Turkish buyers are limiting their bookings in line with their immediate needs for now.
Meanwhile, Turkish mills are still having difficulties in terms of export sales due to existing and new antidumping investigations in export markets. Besides the 50 percent duty on imported steel from Turkey in the US and the European Commission’s quota for steel imports and the antidumping action that it has initiated against welded pipe and hollow sections from Turkey, Macedonia and Russia, recently Canada announced the preliminary determination in its antidumping duty investigation against certain carbon steel welded pipe imports from four countries, including Turkey. Besides these trade measures, the current cautiousness among Turkish market players regarding the economic outlook for their country is still exerting pressure on domestic welded pipe prices.