Business activity in the Italian seamless pipe market is still slow due to weak demand from consuming industries amid macroeconomic concerns, including the euro zone sovereign debt crisis. Domestic and export prices of Italian seamless pipes have declined by around €50/mt ($64/mt) over the past month amid falling raw material costs and insufficient demand.
Import offers of seamless pipes from Ukraine have decreased by a maximum of €20/mt ($26/mt) over the past month, while offers of Czech and Romanian material have decreased by €10-20/mt ($13-26/mt), while only prices of Chinese material have increased, by a margin of around €20-40/mt ($26-51/mt).
Buying activity in the both domestic and export markets is expected to remain low in view of the weakness of consuming industries, lack of funds and global market uncertainty.
Current domestic prices for Italian seamless pipes of 8"-10" size as per ASTM are at about €1,150-1,200/mt ($1,480-1,545/mt) ex-works.
Export quotations of Italian seamless pipes of 6"-10" Sch 40 size of grade B as per ASTM A106 are at around €1,150-1,200/mt ($1,480-1,545/mt) FCA or €1,180-1,240/mt ($1,520-1,596/mt) FOB for January production.
Prices for Chinese seamless pipes, 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM, are at about €720-840/mt ($953-1,080/mt) CFR Italy. Prices are exclusive of antidumping (AD) duties of 17.7-39.2 percent.
October-November production Ukrainian 2"-6" seamless pipes as per GOST or ASTM are offered to the Italian market at around €830-880/mt ($1,070-1,130/mt) CPT (13.8 percent AD duty not included).
Prices for Romanian origin seamless steel tubes (ArcelorMittal Roman) of 3"-10" grade B made to ASTM or as per EN are at about €1,030-1,050/mt ($1,326-1,352/mt) CPT.
Czech origin 3"-10" seamless steel tubes (ArcelorMittal Ostrava), as per ASTM, are quoted for Italian consumers at around €1,020-1,050/mt ($1,313-1,352/mt) CPT.
€1 = $1.287