Price Review

On December 12th, the seamless steel pipe prices in major cities nationwide remained stable. The national average price of 1084.5mm seamless steel pipes was quoted at RMB 4,236 per ton, unchanged from the previous trading day. Prices of 1084.5mm seamless steel pipes in Linyi and Liaocheng markets also remained stable temporarily. The Mysteel Seamless Steel Pipe Price Index stood at 4,115.2, flat compared with the previous trading day.

On December 12th, the ex-factory prices of pipe billets decreased by RMB 10 per ton. For 20# hot-rolled pipe billets: Tianjin Iron and Steel quoted RMB 3,190 per ton, and Donghai quoted RMB 3,180 per ton. For 20# continuous casting round billets: Gangtou Special Steel quoted RMB 3,190 per ton. (Unit: RMB/ton)

On December 15th, the settlement price of ordinary billets in Qian'an, Tangshan was RMB 2,940 per ton, with a weekly average of RMB 2,944.29 per ton and a monthly average of RMB 2,965.67 per ton. The spot price among traders was around RMB 3,000 per ton. (Unit: RMB/ton)

On December 12th, the total trading volume of 124 sample seamless steel pipe trading enterprises nationwide reached 13,002 tons, a decrease of 3.7% month-on-month and 3.8% year-on-year. By region, except for East China, Northeast China, and Central China, trading volumes in other regions declined. Among them, the East-North China region saw a significant drop of over 27%.

Weekly Production Survey of National Seamless Steel Pipe Mills (covering 30 manufacturers with 101 production lines):

Last week, the black series futures market fluctuated weakly, raw material prices declined moderately, and seamless steel pipe prices consolidated at a low level. On the upstream side, cost support for mainstream pipe mills weakened, leading to poor profit performance. Affected by the off-season demand, pipe mills received average orders, slowed down production rhythm, and witnessed a dual drop in output and inventory, easing pressure on the supply side. On the demand side, as winter deepens, demand in northern China will further shrink. Although the southern market is less affected by weather, overall downstream demand remains sluggish, with end-users more impacted by capital constraints. Amid the pattern of weak supply and demand, it is expected that the national seamless steel pipe prices will operate stably today.