Unfavorable market conditions in the UAE do not give foreign suppliers any chance to increase their seamless pipe quotations. On the contrary, Romanian and South African seamless pipes have become $100/mt cheaper for customers in the UAE over the past month. Top-tier producers from Argentina, Italy and Japan have decreased their offer prices by $50/mt over the same period. Meanwhile, quotations of seamless pipes from Ukraine have declined by $10-20/mt. At the same time, offer prices of Chinese and Russian seamless pipes have remained approximately at unchanged levels.
Taking into account the recent increase of export prices for seamless pipes from China, it is possible to expect some small increase in import seamless pipes quotations in the UAE, both from China and from other suppliers. Market players believe that demand will increase slowly next year as the oil market in the region improves.
Import offers of Chinese seamless pipes 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM A106/API 5L are being given to the local UAE market at $740-750/mt C&F, while ¾" pipes are priced at around $900-920/mt C&F, with ½" pipes at about $940-960/mt C&F.
Quotations of Ukrainian (Interpipe) seamless pipes 2"-8" grade B made to ASTM A106/API 5L are at $900-940/mt C&F, while 8"-10" pipes are at the range of $980-1,000/mt C&F. Offers of similar pipes with 8"-12" diameters from Russia (TMK) are being given to the UAE at around $1,050/mt C&F.
Romanian and South African seamless pipes (ArcelorMittal) 2"-10" grade B made to API 5L are quoted at around $1,000-1,050/mt C&F Dubai.
Italian and Argentinian seamless pipes from Tenaris 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM A106/API 5L are quoted to the UAE at $1,200-1,250/mt C&F. Prices of Japanese (Sumitomo) seamless pipes 2"-6" grade B as per ASTM A106/API 5L are also in the range of $1,200-1,250/mt C&F.
Quotations of 2"-6" seamless pipes grade B as per ASTM A106/API 5L to the UAE from France and Germany (V&M) are at $1,250-1,300/mt C&F.