The welded pipe market in Italy has continued to be very quiet in terms of demand. Italian welded pipe prices have declined by €5-10/mt over the past month in line with the slowdown in sales and lower raw material offers, but in US dollar terms prices have moved down by $24-42/mt due to currency fluctuations. During the same period, Turkish suppliers have cut their offers for Italy by around €20-40/mt, while import offers of Bulgarian welded pipes have decreased by €5-10/mt. For the coming period, no improvement in demand is foreseen because of the summer holiday season. The negative market conditions are due to the weakness of the global steel market, which is unlikely to see a recovery before the end of the summer.
Current local prices for Italian welded pipes of 2"-6" size with wall thickness of 2.0-4.0 mm as per EN 10219 made of base steel grade S235JR HR coils are at about €500-530/mt ($546-578/mt) ex-works. Prices are shown on actual weight basis and excluding 22 percent VAT. Domestic prices for standard-size precision welded tubes E235 grade as per EN 10305-3 are at about €610-620/mt ($666-676/mt) ex-works.
Export quotations of Italian 2"-6" welded pipes as per EN 10219 are about €530-560/mt ($578-611/mt) FOB or €500-530/mt ($546-578/mt) ex-works. In particular, offer prices for Spain are in the range of €530-570/mt ($578-622/mt) CPT.
Offers from Turkish suppliers of industrial welded pipes with 2-4 mm wall thickness made from HR coils are being given at an average of €460-485/mt ($502-529/mt) CFR to Italy and at €475-500/mt ($518-546/mt) CFR to Spain.
Offers of Bulgarian welded pipes to the Italian market are standing at an average of €490-515/mt ($535-562/mt) CPT on theoretical weight basis.
€1 = $1.091