The lack of trading activity in the Italian seamless pipe market has prevented any price increases over the past month. Despite soaring scrap prices in the country, quotations for domestically produced commodity-grade seamless pipes have remained unchanged due to sluggish market sentiment. Most foreign suppliers have also left their offers at previous levels, with only quotations of Chinese material declining by a maximum of €10/mt ($13/mt). Market players believe seamless pipe suppliers are unlikely to raise their prices before the end of the year due to unfavorable market conditions and the approach of the holiday season.
Current domestic prices for Italian seamless pipes of 2"-6" size of grade B as per ASTM are at about €1,050-1,080/mt ($1,417-1,458/mt) ex-works, while offers of 8"-10" seamless pipes are at around €1,080-1,100/mt ($1,458-1,485/mt) ex-works.
Export quotations of Italian seamless pipes of 2"-10" Sch 40 of grade B as per ASTM A106 are at around €1,050-1,100/mt ($1,417-1,485/mt) FCA or €1,080-1,130/mt ($1,458-1,525/mt) FOB, for January production.
Prices for Chinese seamless pipes, 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM, are at about €650-710/mt ($877-958/mt) CFR Italy. Prices are exclusive of antidumping (AD) duties of 17.7-39.2 percent.
November production Ukrainian 2"-6" seamless pipes as per GOST, ASTM or EN are offered to the Italian market at around €730-750/mt ($985-1,012/mt) CPT (12.3-13.8 percent AD duty not included).
Prices for Romanian origin seamless steel tubes (ArcelorMittal Roman) of 3"-10" grade B made to ASTM or as per EN are at about €1,000-1,030/mt ($1,350-1,390/mt) CPT.
Czech origin 3"-10" seamless steel tubes (ArcelorMittal Ostrava), as per ASTM, are quoted for Italian consumers at around €980-1,000/mt ($1,323-1,350/mt) CPT.
€1 = $1.35