During the week ending April 19, 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 $600-620/mt FOB, moving sideways compared to April 12, while export offers for API 5L seamless pipe given by Chinese suppliers are at $610-640/mt FOB, for June shipment, also remaining stable compared to April 12.
Product name |
Quality |
Spec. |
Price ($/mt) FOB |
Weekly change ($/mt) |
API 5L seamless pipe |
Gr.B |
2’’-6’’ Std |
625 |
- |
Seamless pipe, casing (hot rolled forming) |
J55 |
3’’-8’’ Std |
635 |
- |
Seamless pipe, tubing (cold drawn forming) |
ST37 |
< 3’’ Std |
695 |
- |
Welded pipes |
Gr.B |
2’’-6’’ Std |
610 |
- |
During the given week, steel pipe prices in the Chinese domestic market have remained stable amid the prevailing cautious sentiments among market players. Coke prices moved down in two consecutive rounds, weakening the support for steel pipe prices. At the same time, actual demand has not been as good as market players had expected. Moreover, as the Labor Day holiday (April 29-May 3) is approaching, demand for steel pipes may not improve significantly. It is expected that steel pipe prices in the Chinese domestic market may fluctuate within a limited range in the coming week.
As of April 19, HRC futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 4,009/mt ($584/mt), rising by RMB 12/mt ($1.7/mt) or edging up by 0.3 percent since April 12.
$1 = RMB 6.8731
