Lively exports have continued to support Turkish welded pipe producers in their upward price policy, although domestic trade has remained subdued. Turkish welded pipe prices have increased by $10/mt to 990-1,010/mt ex-works and by $20/mt to $1,000-1,020/mt FOB over the past week.
Local buyers prefer to wait for now, considering current offers to be hardly workable. In addition, financial issues and the ongoing Ramadan period have affected business in a negative way. “They are only buying to meet their needs and they find current price levels to be high. But HRC prices have already hit $1,050/mt ex-works and the producers are again ready for further increases because they have been receiving export demand too and some of them have sold out their materials until September,” one producer told SteelOrbis.
On the other hand, export activity has been good, especially to the EU. Although Turkey's quota for gas pipes for the second quarter has been filled, the other pipe categories still have an additional volume of around 36 percent to be sold. Currently, Turkish mills are offering for July-September shipments and report that demand has been getting better day by day. "We do not have to balance demand like in the previous years and we find this a bit dangerous. Export demand is not as reliable for us as local demand because of the competition in the global markets. But in the local market buyers have serious difficulties because of credit limits. In this context, we just follow up raw material prices and try to maintain our prices as long as we can, because we really want to attract local demand too," a producer told SteelOrbis.
** Prices are given for ERW pipes and hollow sections with 2-4 mm wall thickness made from HRC of S235 grade as per EN 10219, on theoretical weight basis.