Over the past week, Turkish welded pipe exporters have continued their sales, though demand has slowed down a bit since most of Turkish producers were absent in export markets due to the long holiday period in August and due to the fluctuations in Turkish lira-US dollar exchange. Meanwhile, as SteelOrbis informed last week, Turkish welded pipe producers continue to find it difficult to source sufficient raw material supplies and this situation has negatively impacted welded pipe exports from Turkey over the past week. These market conditions have hindered any possible declines in ex-Turkey welded pipe offers and prices have remained stable week on week. As a result, Turkish producers’ offer range for ERW pipes and hollow sections with 2-4 mm wall thickness made from hot rolled coil (HRC) of S235 grade as per EN 10219 to their export markets are still at $650-700/mt FOB.
While Turkish welded pipe producers continue to race against European Commission’s quotas and duties, export volumes are expected to increase slightly after the summer season and quota is likely to be exhausted by autumn. Meanwhile, quota for hollow section exports is expected to be exhausted earlier than that. According to the latest official data, Europe has imported 17,000 mt of hollow section and 7,600 mt of welded pipe since EC’s announcement. Since 25 percent duty will be added to deal prices if quotas are exhausted, Turkish welded pipe and hollow section exports are likely to be interrupted when quotas are almost reached in the coming period.