During the week ending August 28, average Chinese steel pipe export offer prices have remained stable. At present, export offers for welded pipe given by Chinese suppliers are in the range of $470-480/mt FOB, remaining stable compared to August 21, while export offers for API 5L seamless pipe given by Chinese suppliers are at $480-500/mt FOB, October shipment, moving sideways compared to August 21.
Product name |
Quality |
Spec. |
Price ($/mt) FOB |
Weekly change ($/mt) |
API 5L seamless pipe |
Gr.B |
2’’-6’’ Std |
490 |
- |
Seamless pipe, casing (hot rolled forming) |
J55 |
3’’-8’’ Std |
490 |
- |
Seamless pipe, tubing (cold drawn forming) |
ST37 |
< 3’’ Std |
615 |
- |
Welded pipes |
Gr.B |
2’’-6’’ Std |
475 |
- |
During the given week, steel pipe prices in the Chinese domestic market have moved sideways. Following rises in HRC futures prices over the past few trading days, they indicated a decline of 0.18 percent on August 28, signaling the cautious sentiments among market players. Demand for steel pipe has still been slack, which negatively affected its prices. At the same time, the construction activities of some projects faced financial tightness by the end of August, which may weaken the support to steel pipe prices. It is thought that steel pipe prices in the Chinese domestic market will likely fluctuate within a limited range in the coming week.
As of August 28, HRC futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,321/mt ($466/mt), increasing by RMB 9/mt ($1.3/mt) or 0.27 percent since August 21, while down 0.18 percent compared to the previous trading day, August 27.
$1 = RMB 7.1216