The Iranian seamless pipe market is going through a sluggish period as many government projects have stopped buying amid the unclear domestic political situation. The beginning of Ramadan has also affected business activity in the Iranian market. Market participants prefer to adopt a wait-and-see policy at the moment and are not interested in stockpiling. Prices of locally produced seamless pipes have remained largely unchanged over the past month. Imports of seamless pipes to Iran are still hampered by international sanctions. Over the past month, Russian and Ukrainian seamless pipe suppliers have kept their price levels unchanged given slack interest among Iranian buyers, while import offers of Chinese material have gone up by around $50/mt, but no deals have been reported. Market insiders believe that the current situation will not change at least until the country's new president enters office.
Current domestic prices of Iranian production seamless pipes of 1"-4" grade B made to API 5L are at $1,000-1,050/mt ex-works.
Import offers of Chinese seamless pipes, 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM A106/API 5L, are being given to the local Iranian market at $800-850/mt CFR Bandar Abbas.
Quotations of Ukrainian seamless pipes of 2"-6" size grade B as per ASTM A106 are at about $1,050-1,100/mt CFR for August production.
Russian pipes of 2"-6" grade B as per ASTM A106 or GOST are being offered to northern Iranian ports at $950-1,000/mt CFR.