Turkish welded pipe exports come to a halt

Turkish welded pipe producers are facing very stagnant demand in export markets this week.

As a result of the coronavirus outbreak, unclear market conditions, sharply decreased scrap prices and shipment problems, welded pipe buyers are seen to have backed off from the market.

In the absence of demand, most welded pipe producers are refraining from declaring a price level. However, with the current price of hot rolled coil, they prefer to keep their prices at $520/tonne fob.

A Turkish welded pipe producer tells Kallanish: “It’s useless to express an offer level when there are no buyers. I would prefer to sell at $520/t fob; however, under current conditions – when there is no demand – I would not hesitate to sell at $500/t fob if I could find a firm bid.”

Another Turkish welded pipe producer adds: “We have stopped our sales activities. We focused on loading our previous sales. Ports are full, there are no containers, everybody’s panicked. We have to rush to load while we can. We may be unable to load in the near future. Who buys under these conditions?”

Coupled with European quotas, the coronavirus spread has caused welded pipe demand to come to a halt.

Most welded pipe producers are seen to be pessimistic and are not expecting to see a positive development in market conditions in the near future.