Over the past week, Turkish mills have kept their domestic welded pipe offers unchanged. It had been observed that buyers in the local Turkish welded pipe market were anticipating a fall in domestic welded pipe quotations in line with the recent decreases recorded in scrap prices, leading demand to soften. However, with the import scrap booking in Turkey concluded yesterday, June 27, scrap prices have moved up. On the other hand, Turkish mills are unwilling to lower their prices for hot rolled coil (HRC), which is used as raw material in welded pipe production, and so Turkish welded pipe producers are also unwilling to cut their offers further. As a result, Turkish welded pipe producers have kept their domestic offer range for ERW pipes and hollow sections with 2-4 mm wall thickness made from HRC of S235 grade as per EN 10219 stable week on week at $570-595/mt ex-works.
Meanwhile, due to the weakness of demand, Turkish welded pipe producers have reduced their export offer range for ERW pipes and hollow sections with 2-4 mm wall thickness made from HRC of S235 grade as per EN 10219 by $10/mt week on week to $570-590/mt FOB. SteelORbis has been informed that offers $10/mt below the lower end of this price range are also heard for large volumes in the international markets. Market sources also report that European buyers are giving lower firm bids to Turkish mills, while demand received from Europe has decreased significantly despite the ongoing sales for August deliveries.