The Chinese seamless pipe market has hardly witnessed any changes during the past two weeks. Chinese producers and traders of seamless pipes have kept their domestic offers firm at unchanged levels over the past two weeks against the background of sluggish demand from end-users. Export offers of Chinese seamless pipes have also remained stable as business activity of most foreign buyers has remained low. Players remain mostly pessimistic about the future prospects for the Chinese seamless pipe market and do not foresee any tangible improvements in the segment, considering the insufficient demand from both local and overseas consumers.
Domestic prices of 4"-8" seamless pipes according to GB/8162-8163 are varying at around RMB 3,900-4,300/mt ($636-700/mt) ex-works, including 17 percent VAT.
Chinese ex-stock prices for 2"-8" seamless pipes according to GB/8162-8163 in Shanghai are at around RMB 3,300-3,600/mt ($538-587/mt) ex-warehouse, including 17 percent VAT, while traders in Tianjin and Beijing are offering the same pipes at around RMB 3,250-3,550/mt ($530-579/mt) ex-warehouse.
Current export quotations from most Chinese manufacturers for 2"-6" Sch40 grade B seamless pipes according to ASTM A106/API 5L are on average at $550-580/mt FOB, offers of 18"-20" pipes are at $620-680/mt FOB, while prices of ½"-3/4" pipes are at $750-800/mt FOB.
$1 = RMB 6.12