India's welded pipe makers are coming under strong pressure from suppliers of flat products. Rising raw material prices are making life difficult for most local pipe producers, as their customers are not willing to accept increased pipe prices. Over the past two weeks domestic and export prices of galvanized welded pipes have remained unchanged. However, Indian pipe manufacturers have managed to raise their domestic quotations of black ERW pipes by INR 1,000-2,000/mt ($30-50/mt, currency fluctuations taken into account) and to increase their export offers by $10-20/mt over the past two weeks.
Current domestic prices of Indian 1"-6" black ERW pipes made to BS 1387 are at the level INR 33,000-35,000/mt ex-works ($690-730/mt) on theoretical weight basis, excluding tax. Current domestic offers of electric-welded galvanized pipes are in the range of INR 38,000-40,000/mt ex-works ($790-830/mt), depending on producers.
Export quotations of Indian 1"-6" black ERW pipes as per BS 1387 (light series) are at the level of $700-720/mt FOB, with export offers of 1"-6" galvanized ERW pipes at $750-800/mt FOB. Offers of 6"-16" welded pipes with 3-12.7 mm wall thickness grade B made to ASTM A53/API 5L are being given to the external market at around $750/mt FOB.
During the coming weeks pipe producers will likely try to increase prices of welded pipes to compensate for their rising production costs, though by a limited margin due to the negative conditions in the external market. Market players have expressed the conviction that the price increases seen for HRC are in excess of what is warranted by real demand in the market. As a result, they are hoping for a slowdown in the upward trend in the flat product segment.