According to market sources, after their efforts to maintain their prices unchanged last week, Turkish producers have been forced to reduce their welded pipe prices again during the past week. With the ongoing political uncertainty in the country and due to the significant strengthening of the US dollar against the Turkish lira, sentiment in the local Turkish welded pipe market is still negative, while local steel producers state that the decreases in prices may continue in the coming period. On the other hand, although demand for Turkish welded pipe in the export markets has remained slack in the same period, exporters have not changed their prices this week.
Most offers of Turkish ERW pipes and hollow sections with 2-4 mm wall thickness made from hot rolled coil (HRC) of S235 grade as per EN 10219 to the domestic market are at about $440-460/mt ex-works on actual weight basis, declining by $10/mt on average over the past week.
Meanwhile, Turkish producers are offering ERW pipes and hollow sections made from HRC of steel grade S235 JRH as per EN 10219 to foreign customers at around $425-435/mt FOB, remaining unchanged as compared to the price levels recorded in the previous week.