End-user demand has weakened in the UAE seamless pipe market ahead of Ramadan, and foreign suppliers have mostly slashed their prices amid the worsening buying sentiment in the market. In particular, prices of Chinese and South African seamless pipes have decreased by $20-30/mt over the past month. Import offers of seamless pipes from Ukraine have declined by $50/mt, while quotations of pipes from Romania have gone down by $10-40/mt over the past month. Offers for Argentinian seamless pipes have decreased by around $100/mt. At the same time, offers for seamless pipes from Italy, Japan and Germany have remained almost unchanged over the past month. Buying activity is not expected to revive before the end of Ramadan in the second half of August. Market participants think seamless pipe offers may start to rise slightly in September.
Most offers of Chinese seamless pipes of 2"-8" grade B made to ASTM/API are being given to the local UAE market at $880-920/mt CFR, while quotations of high quality pipes are at around $980-1,000/mt CFR.
Quotations of Ukrainian (Interpipe) seamless pipes, 2"-12" Sch 40 grade B made to ASTM, are at $1,150-1,200/mt CFR.
Seamless pipes from Romania (ArcelorMittal) of 3"-10" grade B made to ASTM are quoted at about $1,350-1,360/mt CFR Dubai, while offers of 12"-14" pipes are being given at $1,375-1,420/mt CFR.
South African (ArcelorMittal) seamless pipes, 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM/API, are being quoted to the UAE in the range of $1,300-1,320/mt CFR.
Offers of seamless pipes from Argentina, 2"-8" grade B made to ASTM/API from Tenaris, are being given to the UAE at $1,600-1,700/mt CFR.
Offers of seamless pipes from Italy, 8" Sch 40 and 10" Sch 40 grade B made to ASTM from Tenaris Dalmine, are being given to the UAE at $1,620-1,670/mt CFR, while 6" Sch 40 seamless pipes are being quoted to the UAE at about $1,720-1,730/mt CFR.
Quotations of seamless pipes from France and Germany (V&M) and from Japan (Sumitomo) for 8"-10" grade B made to ASTM/API are at about $1,650-1,700/mt CFR, while 3/4"-1" pipes are at around $1,900-2,000/mt CFR.