RESEARCH: Substrate costs cause surge in US, European welded pipe prices

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets’ team of analysts are ready to view.

A surging hot-rolled coil market drove price increases in the ERW and HSAW segments both in the United States and Europe. While there were encouraging signs in terms of fundamentals such as drilling activity edging higher in the US and some European interconnection projects moving forward, those are still too weak and insufficient to influence the degree of the recent price movements.

In fact, LSAW linepipe prices did not move in either region because prices are weaker in the plate market, where the demand picture is less buoyant given its exposure to the energy industry.

Middle East waits for FIDs
Meanwhile, the Middle East market weakened this month, especially for ERW linepipe, but prices remain in a wide range. Chinese suppliers, however, raised their offers to reflect higher costs. We expect the Chinese market to continue to provide a floor to landed prices this quarter. The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region now waits for a number of projects that have been delayed – but not abandoned – because the pandemic to go through and get to tendering stage. Demand should rise steadily next year, but further delays are possible.

China prepares new five-year plan
The Chinese Communist Party Plenum released the 14th five-year plan which should outline investment plans for the oil and gas industry from 2021 to 2025. Meanwhile, targets for the 13th plan have yet to be met, with 1,000 km of crude oil pipelines, 4,000 km of refined products pipelines and 19,000 km of gas pipelines still left to build.

While the pandemic has slowed operations, we expect there will be an attempt to catch up, which would drive domestic demand. And there may be some tightness in supply in the north of the country due to requirements to reduce pollution because of environmental concerns in Tangshan.

Click here to view the Welded Linepipe and OCTG Market Tracker in full. If you are not a subscriber but would like see a free sample report, please click here.

What to read next
The publication of Fastmarkets copper concentrates TC index, cif Asia Pacific was delayed on Friday March 26, due to a reporter error.
How could the FBB capacity expansions impact the European market?
After a month-long consultation period, Fastmarkets has refined the delivery terms for its international nickel sulfate price assessments, with Japan and Korea now the only accepted locations.
After an extended consultation period, Fastmarkets has amended the specified brands in its cobalt standard grade and cobalt alloy grade price assessments.
A growing focus by consumers on Scope 3 carbon emissions is putting raw materials, such as bauxite and alumina, in the spotlight
Fastmarkets invited feedback from the industry on the pricing methodology for cobalt sulfate, spodumene and graphite price assessments via an open consultation process between April 13 and May 18, 2023. This consultation was done as part of our published annual methodology review process.
We use cookies to provide a personalized site experience.
By continuing to use & browse the site you agree to our Privacy Policy.
Proceed