Chinese seamless pipe market weakens
2023-04-07 08:15:14 [Print]
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 7 Apr 23 - The domestic seamless pipe market runs slowly and prices go down slightly this week. At present, the prevailing prices of seamless pipe 20# Ф219*6mm GB8163 stand at RMB5,350/t (USD777/t), RMB4,850/t (USD705/t) and RMB5,400/t (USD785/t) D/P respectively in warehouses Tianjin, Liaocheng and Guangzhou, with the former two down by RMB50/t (USD7/t) and the latter one stable from Tuesday. Insiders foresee further price decline in the coming several seeing the pessimistic atmosphere in the market.
"End users tend to hold back from purchasing dragged by insufficient orders for final products. We tried to contact with several regular clients on Thursday, but none of them showed intention in purchasing, believing prices would edge down further. To promote sales, we had to provide the discount of RMB50/t (USD7/t),"complained a trader in Tianjin. Offering RMB5,400/t (USD785/t) for seamless pipe 20# Ф219*6mm GB8163, he sold 20t at RMB5,350/t (USD777/t) on Thursday, while last sold 30t of the material at RMB5,400/t (USD785/t) on Monday. The trader worries about a further price decline in the coming market in view of the sluggish demand.
Holding around 900t of stocks, the trader might sell 700t in April, down from 900t in March. He roughly sold 2,000t in the first quarter of 2023, against 8,000t or so in 2022.
"Discouraged by the poor sales performance, we had to enlarge discounts to promote sales," disclosed a producer in Liaocheng. Quoting RMB4,900/t (USD712/t) for seamless pipe 20# Ф219*6mm GB8163, he could accept RMB4,850/t (USD705/t) at most for firm orders. "The demand from downstream industries remains soft. Besides, both traders and end users keep inactive in placing orders restricted by the downward price trend. We did not close any deals these two days, and last sold 2,000t of seamless pipe 20# Ф325*10mm GB8163 at RMB4,800/t (USD697/t) early this week," added the producer. Dragged by the slow market, the producer reduced production by 20% these two months. Taking the soft demand from downstream industries into consideration, he deems prices of seamless pipe would edge down further in the forthcoming several days.
Reporting an annual production capacity of 1 million tons for two lines, the producer would produce 65,000t of seamless pipe in April, similar to March, but down from 80,000t in February. It recorded the output of around 185,000t in the first quarter of 2023, against 906,000t or so in 2022.
"The market runs slowly as the continuous rains slow down the operation of construction projects. After tough negotiations, we just sold 70t of seamless pipe 20# Ф219*6mm GB8163 at RMB5,400/t (USD785/t) on Thursday, while could sell 100t a day in early March," disclosed a trader in Guangzhou. Nevertheless, he remains reluctant to decrease prices supported by the low stocks. "Steel mills in Shandong informed us to move down EXW prices by RMB30/t (USD4/t) on Tuesday, but we did not follow suit temporarily. Presently, we just hold 1,000t in inventory, half of that in the middle of February," added the trader. Considering that downstream customers remain inactive in purchasing and the demand keeps insufficient, the trader shows little confidence in the market prospect and predicts a slight price decline of RMB50/t (USD7/t) in the following several days.
With the typical monthly sales volume of 2,000t, the trader would sell 1,500t in April, down from 1,800t in March. He recorded the sales volume of approximately 4,700t in the first quarter of 2023, against 24,000t more or less in 2022.
"End users tend to hold back from purchasing dragged by insufficient orders for final products. We tried to contact with several regular clients on Thursday, but none of them showed intention in purchasing, believing prices would edge down further. To promote sales, we had to provide the discount of RMB50/t (USD7/t),"complained a trader in Tianjin. Offering RMB5,400/t (USD785/t) for seamless pipe 20# Ф219*6mm GB8163, he sold 20t at RMB5,350/t (USD777/t) on Thursday, while last sold 30t of the material at RMB5,400/t (USD785/t) on Monday. The trader worries about a further price decline in the coming market in view of the sluggish demand.
Holding around 900t of stocks, the trader might sell 700t in April, down from 900t in March. He roughly sold 2,000t in the first quarter of 2023, against 8,000t or so in 2022.
"Discouraged by the poor sales performance, we had to enlarge discounts to promote sales," disclosed a producer in Liaocheng. Quoting RMB4,900/t (USD712/t) for seamless pipe 20# Ф219*6mm GB8163, he could accept RMB4,850/t (USD705/t) at most for firm orders. "The demand from downstream industries remains soft. Besides, both traders and end users keep inactive in placing orders restricted by the downward price trend. We did not close any deals these two days, and last sold 2,000t of seamless pipe 20# Ф325*10mm GB8163 at RMB4,800/t (USD697/t) early this week," added the producer. Dragged by the slow market, the producer reduced production by 20% these two months. Taking the soft demand from downstream industries into consideration, he deems prices of seamless pipe would edge down further in the forthcoming several days.
Reporting an annual production capacity of 1 million tons for two lines, the producer would produce 65,000t of seamless pipe in April, similar to March, but down from 80,000t in February. It recorded the output of around 185,000t in the first quarter of 2023, against 906,000t or so in 2022.
"The market runs slowly as the continuous rains slow down the operation of construction projects. After tough negotiations, we just sold 70t of seamless pipe 20# Ф219*6mm GB8163 at RMB5,400/t (USD785/t) on Thursday, while could sell 100t a day in early March," disclosed a trader in Guangzhou. Nevertheless, he remains reluctant to decrease prices supported by the low stocks. "Steel mills in Shandong informed us to move down EXW prices by RMB30/t (USD4/t) on Tuesday, but we did not follow suit temporarily. Presently, we just hold 1,000t in inventory, half of that in the middle of February," added the trader. Considering that downstream customers remain inactive in purchasing and the demand keeps insufficient, the trader shows little confidence in the market prospect and predicts a slight price decline of RMB50/t (USD7/t) in the following several days.
With the typical monthly sales volume of 2,000t, the trader would sell 1,500t in April, down from 1,800t in March. He recorded the sales volume of approximately 4,700t in the first quarter of 2023, against 24,000t more or less in 2022.
