Turkish pipemakers fill EU quota in one day

Turkish welded pipe producers, which have concluded high volumes of sales to the EU since July, have filled the EU second-term quotas that started on 1 October, in one day. As a result, many European buyers have been obliged to pay the 25% tax on surplus material.

A Turkish pipe producer tells Kallanish: “We have filled the previous term quotas in 15 days. Considering this, I shipped the material to be delivered on 3 October, but it was too late… I barely believed that was true.”

“Most of our regular buyers have remained in a very difficult situation; I don’t think they will prefer Turkey for their future pipe sourcing,” says another producer.

Although Turkish mills have already started selling pipe for the third-term quotas, European buyers have slowed demand this week following their experience with the second-term quotas last weekend.

As a result, Turkish electric resistance welded (ERW) pipe made from S235 grade hot rolled coil prices have declined to $570-580/tonne fob Turkey theoretical weight.

Although there have been some sales to Turkmenistan, Georgia and the Middle East for ongoing projects, demand, in general, has remained low, following the EU’s slowdown this week.

HRC offer prices, meanwhile, stand mostly at $520-530/t ex-works in the Turkish market, down from $535-540/t a week ago. Almost all market participants expect HRC prices to further decline following the decreases seen in scrap prices.