During the week ending February 3, average Chinese steel pipe export offer prices have moved sideways. At present, export offers for welded pipe given by Chinese suppliers are in the range of $630-670/mt FOB, while export offers for API 5L seamless pipe given by Chinese suppliers are at $670-760/mt FOB, April shipment, moving sideways week on week.
Product name |
Quality |
Spec. |
Price ($/mt) FOB |
Weekly change ($/mt) |
API 5L seamless pipe |
Gr.B |
2’’-6’’ Std |
715 |
0 |
Seamless pipe, casing (hot rolled forming) |
J55 |
3’’-8’’ Std |
770 |
0 |
Seamless pipe, tubing (cold drawn forming) |
ST37 |
< 3’’ Std |
1015 |
0 |
Welded pipes |
Gr.B |
2’’-6’’ Std |
650 |
0 |
During the given week, demand for steel pipe has been sluggish as most traders are off for the Chinese New Year holiday. Steel pipe producers have implemented maintenance works. However, the relatively high levels of billet prices and iron ore prices have provided a certain degree of support for steel pipe prices. It is expected that steel pipe prices will remain stable in the coming week.
Rebar futures prices at Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) stand at RMB 4,175/mt ($645.6/mt) on February 3, down RMB 210/mt ($32.5/mt) or 4.8 percent from January 27.
$1 = RMB 6.4669