Demand for welded pipes in Italy remains low. Distributors are holding back from new purchases as they seek to finish the year with minimal stocks. A lot of consumers lack funds to purchase large quantities of material and it is hard to obtain credit in the current situation. Domestic and export quotations of Italian welded pipes have decreased by a maximum of €20/mt over the past two weeks due to slack buying activity. Prices of Bulgarian welded pipes have decreased by €20/mt over the same period. At the same time, import offers of Indian welded pipes for Italy have increased by €45-75/mt, while offers of Turkish welded pipes have risen by €5-15/mt over the period under review on the back of currency fluctuations. Reductions in price do not appear to favor growth of demand, but even encourage buyers to maintain a waiting strategy. Italian market insiders do not expect a recovery of demand before 2011, and any upturn in demand will be very slow with prices moving mostly in response to cost pressure. Price levels will also depend very much on currency exchange rates.
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 €570-600/mt ex-works (here and below on actual weight basis and excluding 20 percent VAT). Pickled pipes of sizes up to 6" from Italian producers are being offered to the domestic market at around €640-660/mt ex-works, with galvanized pipes at about €790-810/mt ex-works.
Local quotations of 3"-8" welded pipes of L235 steel grade as per EN 10208, used for combustible fluids, are at €610-630/mt ex-works. Domestic prices for standard-size precision welded tubes E235 grade as per EN 10305-3 are at about €690-710/mt ex-works.
Export quotations of Italian 2"-6" welded pipes as per EN 10219 are at about €600-630/mt FOB (transportation by sea) or €580-600/mt ex-works (transportation overland). In particular, offer prices for Spain are in ranges of €630-660/mt C&F or €620-630/mt CPT.
Import offers of Romanian 3"-8" welded pipes of L235 steel grade as per EN 10208 are coming to the Italian market at around €620-640/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 €535-590/mt C&F to Italy and €545-600/mt C&F to Spain. The prices of Turkish welded pipes with 1.5 mm wall thickness made from CR coils are at about €590-665/mt C&F to the Italian market and at €600-675/mt C&F to the Spanish market.
Quotations of Indian black welded pipes of 1"-6" size as per BS 1387 or DIN 2440/2444 or EN 10255 to the Italian market are at the level of €675-695/mt C&F, while galvanized welded pipes are at €750-775/mt C&F.
Offers of Bulgarian welded pipes to the Spanish market are standing at an average of €640-660/mt CPT on theoretical weight basis.