On September 24 the European Union decided to impose definitive antidumping (AD) duties on imports of Chinese seamless pipes of up to 406.4 mm outside diameter. The duties take effect with the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union on October 6. The definitive AD duties are up to 39.2 percent, which is much higher than the provisional duties of 15.1-24.2 percent which the EU announced on April 8. Since 2005 the Chinese share of the EU market has risen from one percent to more than 17 percent.
Due to the slackening of competition in the market, local Italian seamless pipe producer Tenaris has been experiencing greater freedom and has increased domestic and export quotations for October production material by €50-80/mt compared to the September levels. Nevertheless, demand for seamless pipes in the Italian market remains subdued despite some signs of an emergence from the recession.
Domestic prices for October production Italian seamless pipes of 2"-5" size grade B as per ASTM A106/API 5L are at about €900-950/mt ex-works, while prices for 6"-8" pipes are at around €1,050/mt ex-works.
Export quotations of October production Italian seamless pipes of 2"-5" size grade B as per ASTM A106/API 5L are at €930-970/mt FOB, while quotations for 6"-8" size are at €1,080/mt FOB.
European antidumping measures against imports of Chinese seamless pipes have allowed CIS producers to increase their export prices to Europe. However, because of the depreciation of the US currency against the euro, import offers of Russian and Ukrainian seamless pipes have decreased in some cases by €10-25/mt over the past month.
October-November production Ukrainian 2"-6" seamless pipes ex-Interpipe grade B as per ASTM A106 are offered to the Italian market at around €640-690/mt DDU, while offers for 8"-12" seamless pipes are at €710-760/mt DDU (25.1 percent AD duty is not included in either of these price ranges).
Seamless line pipes from Russian producer TMK have been offered to the Italian market at around €715-730/mt DDU (27.2 percent AD duty not included) for common specifications.
Prices for October production Czech origin seamless steel tubes for pressure purposes (ArcelorMittal Ostrava) up to 10" grade P235 made to EN 10216 are at about €880/mt including delivery inside Italy.
Offer prices of seamless pipes 4"-10" grade B as per API 5L from India are at the level of €750-800/mt delivered.
Due to weak demand from end-users and the reluctance of stockists to replenish their inventories before the end of the year, domestic seamless pipe quotations in Italy will likely remain stable in the coming period. However, better demand for oil country tubular goods and line pipes from foreign customers may allow European producers to lift their export prices.