Following the expectations of a fall in prices which surfaced following the decreases recorded in scrap quotations in recent days, Turkish welded pipe producers have reduced their domestic offer range for ERW pipes and hollow sections with 2-4 mm wall thickness made from HRC of S235 grade as per EN 10219 by $15/mt week on week to $570-595/mt ex-works.
Market sources state that demand in the local Turkish welded pipe market has decreased further from its already low levels in line with the falling trend of scrap quotations. On the other hand, market sources state that the municipal election in Istanbul to be held on Sunday, June 23, is also negatively impacting the demand in Turkey’s Marmara region.
On the upstream side, domestic producers’ ex-works prices of hot rolled coil (HRC) decreased by $10/mt on the lower end at the beginning of the current week. Buyers have consider this fall in HRC prices to be insufficient and so continued to exert pressure on domestic HRC prices. However, some Turkish HRC producers’ order books are full for June and July, with some mills’ order books already full even for August, and so they are not planning to reduce their domestic HRC prices further for now. As a result, prices in the local Turkish welded pipe market are unlikely to decrease to the levels buyers desire.