Mills’ prices to traders likely to be flat in summer

摘要

TMK and ChelPipe left prices for 57-159 mm seamless pipes made toGOST 8732(31) unchanged in May.Production cost of seamless pipes made from own billets decreased atRussian mills by RUB 1,900/t on average in May (on?EXW basis, withoutVAT) owing to cheaper raw materials. However, strong demand and long-term contracts with end users allowed mills to ignore lower expenses.Most of the output was booked by Russian oil and gas companies in theprevious months. As a result, no spare volumes of threaded pipes leftand only small amount of mid- and large-sized standard pipes (over 57mm) was available. Production cost of seamless pipes made from ownbillets will stay the same in June and will increase by RUB 2,400/t andRUB 1,200/t in July-August respectively. However, higher productionexpenses will not be reflected in prices for standard seamless pipes totraders because of low demand in the stockists’ market.