The situation in the Chinese welded pipe market remains difficult. Chinese suppliers have been forced to cut prices in view of slack demand and excessive inventories. Domestic offers of welded pipes have decreased by around RMB 50-100/mt ($8-16/mt) in the past two weeks, while export quotations of Chinese welded pipes have declined by $10-20/mt over the period under review. Market participants think that welded pipe prices in China may remain on their soft trend under pressure from weakness on the raw material side and slack market demand. Also, significant oversupply is expected to continue to weigh heavily on Chinese welded pipe prices.
Current offers of locally produced 2"-6" welded pipes of grade B as per ASTM A53 are being given to the Chinese domestic market at an average of RMB 4,100-4,250/mt ($673-698/mt) ex-works. These local market welded pipe prices include 17 percent VAT. Traders in Shanghai are offering Q215-Q235 welded pipes made to GB/T3091 at around RMB 3,620-3,780/mt ($594-621/mt) ex-warehouse, while stockists in the cities of Tianjin and Beijing are offering similar pipes at RMB 3,480-3,600/mt ($571-591/mt) ex-warehouse.
Current export prices of welded pipes from large Chinese mills, 2"-10" grade B according to ASTM A53, are at around $620-660/mt FOB on actual weight basis.
$1 = RMB 6.09