It is observed that prices in the European welded pipe market have moved sideways during the past two weeks. Buyers in the region have almost completed their purchases for October deliveries, while producers are not expected to change their welded pipe prices before November deliveries, though they may increase their quotations depending on the tonnage left from the import quota. Accordingly, a Bulgarian steel producer’s offers to Europe for ERW pipes as per EN 10219 are still at €610-650/meter ($701-748/meter) CPT. The Bulgarian welded pipe producer’s quotations to Hungary and Poland are at €620-630/meter ($713-725/meter) CPT, with other offers to the Czech Republic and Austria being at €630-640/meter ($725-736/meter) CPT, while its offers to Germany and Romania are at €640-650/meter ($736-748/meter) CPT and €610-620/meter ($701-713/meter) CPT respectively.
The European Commissioned announced on Friday (Sept. 28) that it has imitated an antidumping (AD) duty investigation against imports of welded tubes, pipes and hollow profiles of square or rectangular cross-section, of iron other than cast iron or steel other than stainless, from Macedonia, Russia and Turkey. The investigation of dumping and injury cover the period from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018. It is reported that the provisional measures may be announced within seven months as of the initiation of the investigation. Europe is expected to continue importing welded pipe and hollow profiles for two or three more months as the investigation continues, depending on the speed at which the import quota is filled. However, after this period of two or three months, welded pipe and hollow profile imports in Europe are expected to slow down significantly, while buyers are also expected to refrain from importing welded pipe from Russia, Turkey and Macedonia. These are interpreted as positive developments for European welded pipe producers.
€1 = $1.15