The price declines which had been anticipated for a while in the local Turkish hot rolled coil (HRC) market started to be observed last week, with slight decreases seen. Since domestic HRC prices have remained stable this week, Turkish welded pipe producers have preferred to maintain their prices unchanged at the previous week’s levels for now, while expecting that domestic HRC prices will resume their downward movement in the coming days. Meanwhile, the Turkish lira has depreciated sharply against the US dollar and the euro this week, increasing the uncertainty in the Turkish welded pipe market. As a result, Turkish welded pipe buyers have adopted a cautious stance and concluded deals only to meet their immediate needs. Under these market conditions, 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 the domestic market has remained stable over the past week at $680-720/mt ex-works.
Meanwhile, the Turkish welded pipe producers which had previously concluded HRC bookings at high price levels in order to avoid disruptions in production are not expected to offer discounts in their domestic market as their inventory costs are high. On the other hand, those welded pipe producers which have not built up any high-priced HRC stocks are waiting for the trend of domestic HRC prices to become clear and are wondering how much further HRC prices will decline.
As for the export market, trading activity has been stagnant and sales have slowed down over the past week. In fact, some Turkish mills have stated that their welded pipe exports have almost come to a halt in the given period. According to market sources, buyers in foreign markets have continued to make inquiries for Turkish welded pipe, though these inquiries have failed to result in deals. As a result, Turkish welded pipe exporters, who last week had reduced their prices on the upper end in order to conclude sales, have reduced their quotations by $10/mt on the lower end over the past week. Accordingly, Turkish producers’ export prices for ERW pipes and hollow sections with 2-4 mm wall thickness made from HRC of S235 grade as per EN 10219 have moved down to $700-720/mt FOB.
As players in the global welded pipe market will get together in Germany on April 16-20 within the scope of the International Tube and Pipe Trade Fair, trading activity and sales are expected to accelerate in the coming period. However, Turkish welded pipe exporters are not expected to search for new export markets until such time as they receive a signal regarding the results of the European Commission’s safeguard duty investigation.