During the week ending September 25, average Chinese steel pipe export offer prices have moved on an upward trend. At present, export offers for welded pipe given by Chinese suppliers are in the range of $500-510/mt FOB, moving up by $20/mt compared to September 18, while export offers for API 5L seamless pipe given by Chinese suppliers are at $500-520/mt FOB, December shipment, moving up by $20/mt compared to September 18.
Product name |
Quality |
Spec. |
Price ($/mt) FOB |
Weekly change ($/mt) |
API 5L seamless pipe |
Gr.B |
2’’-6’’ Std |
510 |
+20 |
Seamless pipe, casing (hot rolled forming) |
J55 |
3’’-8’’ Std |
510 |
+20 |
Seamless pipe, tubing (cold drawn forming) |
ST37 |
< 3’’ Std |
640 |
+15 |
Welded pipes |
Gr.B |
2’’-6’’ Std |
505 |
+25 |
During the given week, steel pipe prices in the Chinese domestic market have seen an uptrend amid the sharply increasing HRC futures prices in China following the People’s Bank of China’s announcement of the cutting of the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for Chinese banks by 0.5 percentage points in the near future, which positively affected market sentiments. Recently, some traders have started to build up stocks significantly as the National Day Holiday (October 1-7) is approaching. It is thought that steel pipe prices in the Chinese domestic market will move up further in the coming period.
As of September 25, HRC futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,306/mt ($471/mt), increasing by RMB 110/mt ($16/mt) or 3.4 percent since September 18, while up 2.19 percent compared to the previous trading day, September 24.
$1 = RMB 7.0202