The Chinese welded pipe market remains sluggish due to a lack of demand from both local and foreign buyers. Market participants are in general maintaining a wait-and-see stance. Moderate demand has prevented welded pipe offers from rising. Domestic prices of Chinese welded pipes have mostly stayed in the previous range, dropping by RMB 30-50/mt ($5-8/mt) in some cases, while export quotations have not been revised over the past two weeks. It is expected that China's welded pipe prices will continue their weak trend in the near term amid fragile market sentiment and the seasonal decline in consumer activity in key market outlets.
Current offers of locally produced 2"-6" welded pipes of grade B as per ASTM A53 are being given to the Chinese domestic market at an average of RMB 4,100-4,200/mt ($673-690/mt) ex-works. These local market welded pipe prices include 17 percent VAT. Traders in Shanghai are offering Q215-Q235 welded pipes made to GB/T3091 at around RMB 3,650-3,760/mt ($599-617/mt) ex-warehouse, while stockists in the cities of Tianjin and Beijing are offering similar pipes at RMB 3,470-3,570/mt ($570-586/mt) ex-warehouse.
Current export prices of welded pipes from large Chinese mills, 2"-10" grade B according to ASTM A53, are at around $620-650/mt FOB on actual weight basis.
$1 = RMB 6.09