Buying activity in the Italian seamless pipe market has slowed down over the past month in a context of slack domestic and export demand. Over the past month, domestic quotations of Italian mechanical tubes in local currency have remained unchanged, while, due to the strength of the US dollar against the euro, prices in US dollar terms have decreased by $52-53/mt. Meanwhile, Italian suppliers have increased their domestic and export line pipe prices by €20-50/mt over the past month due to the significant weakening of the euro against the US dollar, but prices in US dollar terms have continued to decline by $11-48/mt amid currency fluctuations. Market players have remained pessimistic regarding future market developments as any improvement seems unlikely in the coming period considering the coming cold weather and economic instability in the region.
Current domestic prices for Italian hot rolled seamless tubes for mechanical applications, of 2"-6" size of E355 grade as per EN 10297, are at about €800-820/mt ($860-882/mt) ex-works, while quotations of seamless pipes of grade B as per ASTM A106 are at levels of €1,050-1,090/mt ($1,129-1,172/mt) ex-works.
Export quotations of Italian seamless pipes of 2"-6" Sch 40 of grade B as per ASTM A106/API 5L are at around €1,080-1,125/mt ($1,161-1,209/mt) FOB.
€1 = $1.075