With flat steel prices in Turkey having risen by more than $100/mt during the end of June-beginning of July period, local pipe manufacturers have continued to increase their prices. At the beginning of July, Russian hot rolled coils were offered to Turkey at $530-540/mt CFR, while the same origin cold rolled coils were offered at around $590-600/mt CFR. Meanwhile, Erdemir raised its domestic flat steel prices on three separate occasions during the period from June 25 to July 6, increasing its prices by a total margin of $70/mt. As a result, the producer's base price for HRC reached $500/mt ex-works, excluding VAT. Such a dramatic hike was due to the acute shortage of supply, the depletion of stock reserves and the increase of demand in the Turkish market where the economic situation has been showing a definite improvement. Against this general background, domestic prices of welded pipes in Turkey have risen by $40-80/mt over the two past weeks.
Current offers of Turkish ERW pipes of 2-6 mm wall thickness made from HRC are being given to the domestic market at about $670-700/mt ex-works, while ERW pipes of 1.5 mm wall thickness made from CRC are at the level $800-820/mt ex-works, with offers for material of 1.0 mm wall thickness at $850-860/mt ex-works. Domestic prices of black water pipes are at present in the range $700-740/mt ex-works.
Domestic market quotations of square and rectangular hollow sections of 2-4 mm wall thickness made from HRC, grade A as per ASTM A500, are at $660-670/mt ex-works, while prices of hollow sections of 1.5 mm wall thickness made from CRC are at around $790-800/mt ex-works, with material of 1.0 mm wall thickness at $840-850/mt ex-works.
It should be noticed that currently demand for Turkish welded pipes in the local market is decreasing following the increase in prices. Due to the decline in demand market players do not expect to see prices rise any further.
Current export prices of Turkish ERW pipes and hollow sections of 2-6 mm wall thickness made from HRC are in the range $600-620/mt FOB, compared to $600-640/mt FOB two weeks ago. It is possible that export prices will start to go down again because of slack buyer activity in Europe during the summer period and in the Middle East countries during the month of Ramadan.