During the past week, a Bulgarian steel producer’s offers for ERW pipes as per EN 10219 have remained stable at €600-640/mt ($702-749/mt) CPT. The Bulgarian welded pipe producer’s quotations to Hungary and Poland are at €610-620/mt ($714-725/mt) CPT, with other offers to the Czech Republic and Austria being at €620-630/mt ($725-737/mt) CPT, while its offers to Germany and Romania are at €630-640/mt ($737-749/mt) CPT and €600-610/mt ($702-714/mt) CPT respectively.
While buyers continue their purchases in the European welded pipe market, sales are slower than initial expectations as some market players are inactive due to the holidays. Despite this, the producer in question has nearly filled its order book for August and is getting ready to accept orders for September deliveries, though an increase in prices is planned for new orders.
On the other hand, some European truck drivers are also on holiday, while other truck drivers have focused on transporting agricultural products due to higher cash returns. This has led to tighter availability of transport in the European steel market. As a result, deliveries have been interrupted as of the second half of July amid problems experienced regarding transportation, and mills have not been able to accept some orders due to these problems.
Entering August, the European welded pipe market is not expected to be very lively due to planned maintenance works at production plants. On the other hand, European Union (EU) countries are expected to continue their welded pipe purchases from non-EU countries until the quota determined for the region is filled.
€1 = $1.17