April 2012 | Welded steel tube & pipe
China – cost savings passed on to customers: Asia Market Analysis
Demand has shown some seasonal strength, but remains disappointing.
Pipe mills in China have seen the prices of their feedstock materials fall as HR coil and plate remain in chronic over-supply, but this has done little to improve their margins. Demand has shown some seasonal strength, but remains disappointing, and consequently many buyers found no difficulty in bargaining down prices for commodity grade pipe and tube and line pipe prices are slightly down. API line pipe of 219mm diameter/2-8mm wall thickness at $700-810/tonne fob, down from $700-830/tonne last month. There remain substantial price differences between regional markets. Market developments have been uneven, but there have been signs of convergence. Spot prices for pipe of 3.75mm wall thickness were Rmb4,300/tonne ($682/tonne) in Tianjin a month ago; they were a modest Rmb20/tonne ($3/tonne) higher by the middle of April. In Shanghai spot prices had been running at a much higher level, around Rmb4,600/tonne ($729/tonne) but have fallen by Rmb50/tonne ($8/tonne) since...
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