Demand is picking up gradually in the Turkish seamless pipe market as winter weather conditions are easing. However, most seamless pipe suppliers are in no hurry to raise their quotations as market sentiment is not strong enough yet. Over the past month, offers of Chinese seamless pipes to Turkey have decreased by a maximum of $30/mt. Ukrainian and Russian suppliers have not revised their offers yet, leaving them almost unchanged over the same period. Offers of Romanian seamless pipes have gone up by $90/mt due to currency fluctuations mainly. Import quotations of Italian material have increased by $10-50/mt over the past month. Market insiders expect the situation in the seamless pipe market to improve further thanks to stronger demand from end-use sectors, such as construction, automotive and natural gas.
Chinese suppliers are offering seamless pipes of 2"-10" grade B made to ASTM to the Turkish market in the price range of $920-950/mt CFR.
March production pipes from Ukrainian producer Interpipe with diameter of 50-159 mm as per GOST or ASTM are being offered to the Turkish market at about $1,000-1,020/mt CFR, while offers of pipes with diameter up to 377 mm are at $1,070-1,090/mt CFR.
Quotations of Russian seamless pipes from Volzhsky PP (TMK Group) with diameter up to 219.1 mm made to GOST or ASTM are being given to the Turkish market at about $1,060-1,080/mt CFR for March-April production with a possible discount of $70-80/mt. Russian producer ChTPZ is offering March-April production seamless pipes with diameter up to 219 mm made to GOST at about $1,030-1,060/mt CFR.
Import offers of seamless pipes from Romania (ArcelorMittal), 8"-12" of grade B made to ASTM, are being given to the Turkish market at $1,350-1,390/mt CPT.
6"-8" seamless pipes from Italian producer Tenaris Dalmine are quoted to Turkish customers at $1,930-2,050/mt CPT or $1,370-1,460/mt CFR, while 16" pipes are at around $2,515-2,530/mt CPT or $1,800-1,810/mt CFR.