Business activity in the Romanian seamless pipe market has continued to show signs of sustained weakness. Local buyers have not increased their purchases due to stagnant demand from consuming industries, while difficult financial and economic conditions have curbed demand from overseas buyers. Domestic and export prices for seamless pipes in Romania have remained largely unchanged over the past month as trading activity is still insufficient to support a price increase. The likely price trend of the Romanian seamless pipe market in the coming period remains unclear due to the uncertainty in the raw material markets and given relatively weak end-user demand. Market insiders believe that it will be difficult to implement significant price increases in the coming period.
Romanian domestic quotations of 3"-10" seamless pipes made to ASTM or EN are at about €860-880/mt ($934-955/mt) delivered, excluding 24 percent VAT.
Export offers of 3"-10" seamless pipes of grade B made to ASTM A106/API 5L are being given by ArcelorMittal Roman to the external markets at around €870-900/mt ($944-977/mt) FCA, while 14" pipes are at levels of €920-950/mt ($998-1,031/mt) FCA.
Import offers of 3"-4" seamless pipes from the Czech Republic (ArcelorMittal) of grade B as per ASTM A106 are being given to the Romanian market at €850-880/mt ($923-955/mt) CPT.
€1 = $1.085