During 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 has remained unchanged at $580-610/mt ex-works. Market sources state that demand received from end-users for welded pipe has not indicated any noteworthy improvement in this period.
It is observed that Turkish steel mills’ production costs have increased amid the ongoing high levels of raw material quotations and also due to the uptrend of scrap prices, which came to a halt at the beginning of the current week. Although higher production costs have been reflected in and pushed up domestic hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in Turkey, this increase has not been passed on to welded pipe prices due to the weakness of demand. However, domestic welded pipe prices are expected to increase by $20/mt on average in the coming weeks, market sources report.