Business conditions in the Turkish welded pipe market are still favourable with demand seeing further improvement. In addition, costlier feedstock has helped producers to increase prices for pipe products once again. Moreover, taking into account that the situation in the flats segment has been out of control lately, pipe buyers find the current prices acceptable and have been restocking lately, fearing mills’ offers will rise further.
Hot rolled coil prices are already above $900/mt in Turkey, but prices for welded pipes are at $880-910/mt ex-works on theoretical weight basis, increasing by $10/mt since last week. In this situation, market participants agree that pipe offers are set to rise in the near future. Taking into account the relatively favorable prices for welded pipe in Turkey, the effect of the currency fluctuations has not yet been felt significantly in the segment. Despite the negative financial outlook in the country, buyers continue restocking and demand is not expected to decline for now, unless the expected price rise is a big one. "Many market participants believe current price levels are very risky for HRC and are not sustainable at the moment. Instead of reflecting HRC price increases immediately, we check our raw material costs and try to decide our sales prices. But we must also think about our purchase costs for the following months. That is why it is very clear that pipe prices will increase further soon," a producer told SteelOrbis.
On the export side, prices have also increased by $10/mt to 870-890/mt FOB over the past week. Export demand is good and market sources state that prices are also attractive for foreign buyers.
** 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.