Chinese welded pipe prices move upward

The Chinese welded pipe market has witnessed some upward movements over the past two weeks due to rising feedstock quotations. Domestic welded pipe prices have gone up by RMB 50-150/mt ($10-25/mt) over the past two weeks, while export quotations of Chinese welded pipes have increased by $10-20/mt. Meanwhile, demand for Chinese welded pipes from both local and foreign customers remains rather low in the traditionally slow season and is not expected to increase until September. At the same time, Chinese producers do not intend to reduce their quotations and hope to keep them stable in the coming short-term period citing higher production costs.
 
Current offers of locally produced welded pipes, 2"-6" Q215-Q235 grade, are being given to the Chinese domestic market at an average of RMB 4,800-5,050/mt ($745-785/mt) ex-works, while 2"-6" welded pipes of grade B as per ASTM A53 are at RMB 5,400-5,450/mt ($840-845/mt) ex-works. These local market welded pipe prices include 17 percent VAT.
 
According to the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), in June this year China produced 3.751 million mt of welded pipes, more than May's 3.261 million mt and marking an increase of 32.5 percent year on year. Meanwhile, China's welded pipe production in the first six months of this year reached 18.024 million mt, up 25.3 percent on the corresponding period of last year.
 
Current export prices of Chinese welded pipes, 2"-8" grade B according to ASTM A53, are varying at around $790-880/mt FOB on actual weight basis, while 10"-18" welded pipes are at $820-950/mt FOB.
 
According to the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), in June this year China exported 284,010 mt of welded pipes, indicating an increase of 3.9 percent from the May level and up 1.14 percent year on year. Exports of welded pipes from China in the first six months of 2011 reached 1,715,085 mt, up 28.4 percent on the corresponding period of 2010.