Strong supply and soft demand in Italian seamless pipe market

Buying activity in the Italian seamless pipe market has remained very slack amid low demand from end-users. Prices of Italian seamless pipes have declined by around €20-30/mt ($27-41/mt) over the past month under pressure from low import offers and a lack of demand from both local and foreign buyers. Over the past month, offers of Romanian and Czech material for the Italian market have moved down by €10-20/mt ($14-27/mt), while prices of Ukrainian and Chinese material have remained stable. Market players believe a supply glut and soft demand make seamless pipe price rises unlikely in Italy in the coming period.
 
Current domestic prices for Italian seamless pipes of 2"-6" size as per ASTM or EN are at about €950-980/mt ($1,292-1,333/mt) ex-works.
 
Export quotations of Italian seamless pipes of 2"-6" Sch 40 of grade B as per ASTM A106 are at around €980-1,000/mt ($1,333-1,360/mt) FOB.
 
Prices for Chinese seamless pipes, 2"-6" grade B made to ASTM, are at about €600-630/mt ($816-857/mt) CFR Italy. Prices are exclusive of antidumping (AD) duties of 17.7-39.2 percent.
 
Ukrainian 2"-6" seamless pipes as per GOST, ASTM or EN are offered to the Italian market at around €750-760/mt ($1,020-1,034/mt) CPT (12.3-13.8 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 €950-980/mt ($1,292-1,333/mt) CPT. 
 
Czech origin 3"-10" seamless steel tubes (ArcelorMittal Ostrava), as per ASTM, are quoted for Italian consumers at around €940-960/mt ($1,278-1,306/mt) CPT.
 
€1 = $1.36