Buying activity in the Italian welded pipe market has remained slack in line with insufficiently active consuming industries. Italian suppliers have lowered their domestic and export prices for welded pipes by €10-30/mt ($14-51/mt) over the past month. Import offers of welded pipes from Turkey have increased by €20/mt ($29/mt) over the past month, while offers of Bulgarian materials have remained unchanged. The Italian welded pipe market is expected to see a gradual but slow and fragile recovery of demand this year, driven by improving activity in the key welded pipe using sectors and by some restocking. However, infrastructure investment will likely remain sluggish, basically reflecting the negative impact of austerity on public investment in civil engineering.
Current local prices for Italian ERW cold formed tubes 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 €530-550/mt ($733-760/mt) delivered. Prices are shown on actual weight basis and excluding 21 percent VAT.
Export quotations of Italian 2"-6" welded pipes as per EN 10219 are at about €540-580/mt ($746-802/mt) FOB (transportation by sea) or €520-550/mt ($719-760/mt) ex-works (transportation overland). In particular, offer prices for Spain are in the range of €550-590/mt ($760-815/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 €500-520/mt ($691-719/mt) CFR to Italy and at €510-540/mt ($705-746/mt) CFR to Spain.
Offers of Bulgarian welded pipes to the Italian market are standing at an average of €550-580/mt ($760-802/mt) CPT on theoretical weight basis.
€1 = $1.38