During the week ending January 24, average Chinese steel pipe export offer prices have moved on an upward trend amid rises in ferrous metal futures prices. At present, export offers for welded pipes given by Chinese suppliers are in the range of $590-610/mt FOB, moving up by $10/mt compared to January 17, while export offers for API 5L seamless pipe given by Chinese suppliers are at $600-610/mt FOB, for March shipment, up by $5/mt compared to January 17.
Product name |
Quality |
Spec. |
Price ($/mt) FOB |
Weekly change ($/mt) |
API 5L seamless pipe |
Gr.B |
2’’-6’’ Std |
605 |
+5 |
Seamless pipe, casing (hot rolled forming) |
J55 |
3’’-8’’ Std |
605 |
+5 |
Seamless pipe, tubing (cold drawn forming) |
ST37 |
< 3’’ Std |
710 |
0 |
Welded pipes |
Gr.B |
2’’-6’’ Std |
600 |
+10 |
During the given week, steel pipe prices in the Chinese domestic market have edged up amid shrinking supply to the spot market due to the production restrictions for environmental protection purposes in some regions of China. However, demand for steel pipes has been slack as downstream users have been unwilling to build up stocks and mostly hold low-to-medium inventory levels. More enterprises plan to leave the market for the long holiday and so the steel pipe market will be quieter in the near future. It is thought that steel pipe prices in the Chinese domestic market will fluctuate within a limited range in the coming week.
As of January 24, HRC futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 4,080/mt ($575/mt), increasing by RMB 87/mt ($12.3) or up 2.2 percent since January 17, while rising by 0.84 percent compared to the previous trading day (January 23).
$1 = RMB 7.1053
