Over the past week, the local Turkish welded pipe market has been stagnant, with demand remaining weak and purchase activity at low levels. Buyers in the local Turkish welded pipe markets have been postponing their bookings for a while, waiting for the Turkish lira to continue to gain strength against the US dollar. However, the Turkish lira-US dollar exchange rate has once again increased to 5.50 after decreasing to 5.30 early this week and trading activity in Turkey has remained risky as the exchange rate may record unexpected fluctuations. Due to the further depreciation of the Turkish lira against the US dollar, expectations that buyers will increase their welded pipe bookings have weakened.
Over the past week, 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 domestic market have increased to above $600/mt ex-works again and have started to range at $600-640/mt ex-works.