Over the past week, Turkish welded pipe producers have maintained their offer range unchanged for their domestic market. Accordingly, their prices 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 markets are still at $585-600/mt ex-works. SteelOrbis has also been informed that offers at $580/mt ex-works are also heard in the market for large volumes.
Demand in the local Turkish welded pipe market, which has been slack for a while now due to Ramadan, has remained weak due to the political tensions in the country resulting from the decision to rerun the election for Istanbul's new mayor, and also due to the depreciation of Turkish lira against the US dollar. However, since the White house announced that the 50 percent duty on Turkish steel imports has been halved to 25 percent as of May 17 and since scrap prices have switched to an uptrend in the latest deals concluded in Turkey, buyers in the local Turkish welded pipe market have started to expect that hot rolled coil (HRC) prices, which is used as raw material in welded pipe production, may increase in the coming period. Although HRC producers are unwilling to announce new prices for now, Turkish welded pipe buyers have started to make bookings in order to catch up on their postponed bookings before prices increase. As a result, trading activity in the Turkish welded pipe market now seems livelier. However, since the negative sentiment in Turkey is not expected to fade in the short term, the recovery in welded pipe bookings in the country is unlikely to last long. On the other hand, according to market sources, some welded pipe producers have closed their sales in order to monitor the market before deciding on their prices.
According to market players, following the reduction by the US of the import tariff on Turkish steel imports to 25 percent, both buyers and producers in Turkey have adopted a wait-and-see stance, while prices in the local Turkish market are expected to be determined early next week.