The Italian welded pipe market has been sluggish over the past month amid low business activity in pipe consuming industries. Contrary to expectations, domestic and export prices of Italian welded pipes have decreased by €20-40/mt ($27-54/mt) over the past month despite increased prices for raw materials. At the same time, offers of Turkish and Bulgarian pipes for Italy have increased by €10-20/mt ($14-27/mt).
The Italian welded pipe market will unlikely experience any substantial changes in the coming month amid low implementation of investment projects and the winter season. Meanwhile, prices for Italian welded pipes will not go down further given the support of high feedstock quotations.
Current local prices for Italian welded pipes of 2"-6" size with wall thickness of 2.0-4.0 mm as per EN 10219 made from base steel grade S235JR HR coils are at about €570-620/mt ($770-837/mt) ex-works. Prices are shown on actual weight basis and excluding 21 percent VAT. Domestic prices for standard-size precision welded tubes of E235 grade as per EN 10305-3 are at about €680-710/mt ($918-959/mt) ex-works.
Export quotations of Italian 2"-6" welded pipes as per EN 10219 are at about €600-650/mt ($810-878/mt) FOB (transportation by sea) or €570-620/mt ($770-837/mt) ex-works (transportation overland). In particular, offer prices for Spain are in the range of €600-650/mt ($810-878/mt) CPT.
Offers from Turkish suppliers of industrial welded pipes with 2-4 mm wall thickness made from HR coils are being given at an average of €540-570/mt ($729-770/mt) CFR to Italy and at €560-590/mt ($756-797/mt) CFR to Spain.
Offers of Bulgarian welded pipes to the Spanish market are standing at an average of €600-630/mt ($810-851/mt) CPT on theoretical weight basis.
€1 = $1.35