Buying activity at minimal levels in Italian seamless pipe market

The seamless pipe market in Italy has been very quiet over the past month. Prices of Italian seamless pipes have remained almost unchanged in the given period amid slack buying activity. Over the past month, offers of Chinese material for the Italian market have moved down by €40-50/mt ($55-69/mt), while prices of Ukrainian material have increased by €20-30/mt ($30-44/mt) over the same period. Quotations of Romanian and Czech seamless pipes for Italy have remained stable. Meanwhile, seamless pipe demand in Italy remains slack and purchasing activity is at minimal levels. Market players believe improvement on the activity side is unlikely to be seen in the short term, but a price increase may be possible due to higher production costs.
 
Current domestic prices for Italian seamless pipes of 2"-6" size as per ASTM or EN are at about €950-1,000/mt ($1,311-1,380/mt) ex-works.
 
Export quotations of Italian seamless pipes of 2"-6" Sch 40 of grade B as per ASTM A106 are at around €980-1,030/mt ($1,354-1,424/mt) FOB.
 
Prices for Chinese seamless pipes, 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM, are at about €600-630/mt ($828-869/mt) CFR Italy. Prices are exclusive of antidumping (AD) duties of 17.7-39.2 percent.
 
May production Ukrainian 2"-6" seamless pipes as per GOST, ASTM or EN are offered to the Italian market at around €750-760/mt ($1,035-1,049/mt) CPT (12.3-13.8 percent AD duty not included).
 
Prices for Romanian origin seamless steel tubes (ArcelorMittal Roman) of 3"-10" grade B made to ASTM or as per EN are at about €950-1,000/mt ($1,311-1,380/mt) CPT. 
 
Czech origin 3"-10" seamless steel tubes (ArcelorMittal Ostrava), as per ASTM, are quoted for Italian consumers at around €940-970/mt ($1,299-1,341/mt) CPT.
 
€1 = $1.38