Optimism prevails in Turkish seamless pipe market

After the March 30 municipal elections in Turkey, most seamless pipe suppliers have been attempting to push up their prices for the Turkish market amid the quieter political scene and the beginning of the construction season in Turkey. Thus, prices of Ukrainian seamless pipes for the Turkish market have increased by $30-50/mt over the past month, while offers of Russian material have gone up by $20-30/mt. Prices of Romanian seamless pipes have moved up by $10-30/mt over the same period. Only Chinese seamless pipe prices for Turkey have declined by around $30-40/mt. Market players are very optimistic about developments in the seamless pipe sector in the coming period due to a number of large construction projects planned for 2014.
 
Chinese suppliers are offering seamless pipes of 2"-12" grade B made to ASTM A106/API 5L to the Turkish market in the price range of $760-850/mt CFR.
 
Ukrainian producers' offers for 60-273 mm seamless pipes of grade 10, 20 as per GOST are being given to the Turkish market at about $900-950/mt CFR, while 2"-10" pipes as per ASTM/API are quoted at around $930-970/mt CFR.
 
Russian producer ChTPZ Group (Pervouralsky Novotrubny Works) is offering 2"-8" seamless hot-formed pipes of grade B made to ASTM at about $880-920/mt CFR.
 
Import offers of seamless pipes from Romania (ArcelorMittal), 3"-10" of grade B made to ASTM A106 or API 5L, are being given to the Turkish market at around $1,360-1,410/mt CPT.