Demand for seamless pipes has remained extremely weak in Italy amid the difficult economic situation in the country. Domestic and export prices for locally produced seamless pipes have decreased by €50-60/mt ($63-76/mt) over the past month. During the period under review, offers of Chinese material have increased by a maximum of €20/mt ($25/mt). Prices of Ukrainian seamless pipes for Italy have remained unchanged. During the past month, import quotations of seamless pipes from Romania have gone down by a maximum of €10/mt ($13/mt), while offers of Czech seamless pipes have not been changed. Demand for seamless pipes is not expected to improve in the near term in the domestic and foreign markets, and so prices may continue to slide down.
Current domestic prices for Italian seamless pipes of 6"-10" size as per ASTM are at about €1,200-1,300/mt ($1,512-1,638/mt) ex-works.
Export quotations of Italian seamless pipes of 6"-10" Sch 40 size as per ASTM A106 are at around €1,220-1,335/mt ($1,537-1,682/mt) FCA, offers of 3" pipes are at €1,180-1,200/mt ($1,487-1,512/mt) FCA, while prices of 16" pipes are at €1,360-1,370/mt ($1,714-1,726/mt) FCA for September-October production. Export offers of 8"-10" seamless pipes of grade B as per API 5L are at about €1,280-1,300/mt ($1,612-1,638/mt) FCA.
Prices for Chinese seamless pipes, 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM, are at about €770-840/mt ($970-1,058/mt) CFR Italy. Prices are exclusive of
antidumping (AD) duties of 17.7-39.2 percent.
June production Ukrainian 2"-6" seamless pipes as per GOST or ASTM are offered to the Italian market at around €880-900/mt ($1,109-1,134/mt) CPT (25.1 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 €1,040-1,060/mt ($1,310-1,336/mt) CPT.
Czech origin 3"-10" seamless steel tubes (ArcelorMittal Ostrava), as per ASTM, are quoted for Italian consumers at around €1,030-1,050/mt ($1,298-1,323/mt) CPT.
€1 = $ 1.26