Chinese domestic seamless pipe market inactive

BEIJING (Asian Metal) 5 Apr 12 - With the arrival of the Tomb-sweeping Day holiday, the domestic seamless pipe market performs slowly as lots of downstream customers have left the market. Insiders deem the price is likely to go up slightly after the holiday seeing the upward price trend of raw materials like iron ore and tubing blank.

East China: A salesman from Haitai Trading, one of the leading seamless pipe distributors in Shanghai quotes RMB5,200/t and RMB5,100/t (VAT included) respectively for 20# Φ60mm*4mm GB/T8163 and 20# Φ76mm*3.5mm GB/T8163 from steel mills in Shandong Province, unchanged over those of the previous transaction day.

In the meantime, the source complains that there were no deals concluded these two days as most end users had already left the market for the holiday, while the target sales volume is over 400tpd. Considering the demand is likely to get strong after the holiday and prices of raw materials keep rising, the source thinks the price will go up by RMB50-100/t next week.

Central China: A sales manager from Haihong Trading in Wuhan, Hubei Province offers RMB5,400/t (VAT included) for 20# Φ273mm*7mm GB/T8163 from Xinye Special Steel, the same as that of the previous trading day.

In addition, the source points out that he does not believe the price will go up in the short term in view of the soft demand from downstream customers. According to him, the market performance shows no signs of getting warmer due to end users’ cautious attitudes.Asian Metal Copyright However, with a stock of 3,000t in hand against the regular level of 5,000t, he points out that the price is likely to go up slightly supported by the low stock.Asian Metal Copyright Nevertheless, he deems the price is unlikely to go down supported by the firm purchase cost.

South China: A sales manager from Zhonghequansheng Trading in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province reports to Asian Metal that the quotation for 20# Φ219mm*6mm GB/T8163 from steel mills in Shandong Province is stable at RMB5,700/t (VAT included) for the time being.

Meanwhile, the source reveals that the market performance continues to be inactive as downstream customers stop placing orders due to the arrival of the Tomb-sweeping Day holiday. However, with a stock of 3,000t in hand against the regular level of 5,000t, he points out that the price is likely to go up slightly supported by the low stock.

North China: A sales official from Zhongtongweiye Trading in Tianjin offers RMB5,250/t (VAT included) for 20# Φ219mm*6mm GB/T8163 from steel mills in Shandong Province, equaling to that of the previous transaction day.

In addition, the source sighs the market performance is not satisfying at the moment, though steel mills in Shandong Province kept lifting ex-works prices of seamless pipe these days. His sales volume is far less than the target level of 60-70tpd for the moment.Asian Metal Copyright In addition, the source sighs the market performance is not satisfying at the moment, though steel mills in Shandong Province kept lifting ex-works prices of seamless pipe these days.Asian Metal Copyright As for the coming market, he is not so confident and deems the market performance is hard to recover, despite that the price may go up slightly boosted by rising cost.