Page 11 - ITAtube Journal 1 2023

The OCTG pipe price for P110, after its hight in October 2022 (ab. 3.900 USD/ton) suffered a price decline of ab. 25% until April 2023 (ab. 2.900 USD/ton). The struc- tural pipe S235 although on a much lower price level almost maintained its price value at ab. 800 USD/ton. The world tube and pipe production after a slight recovery in 2021 of +5%, was shrinking by
-3,1% in 2022. Anyhow substantial regional differences are reported. Whereas CIS (-32,6%) and China (-4,8%) suffer from less production of tube and pipes, the USA (+23,4%) and India (+18,6%) report major growth of production, driven by a strong OCTG and construction market (Figure 7 and 8).
If we look at the European pipe market, before the Russian invasion, about 14% of pipe imports into the EU have been served by Russia. These volumes need to be sup- plied by other tube and pipe producers. Russian shipments to the EU in 2022 com- pared to 2020 have been decreased by 75% on-year to 78 million tonnes, ESTA reports (Figure 9).
Therefore, major structural supply modifi- cations were introduced since the Russian invasion into the Ukraine. European, Chinese and Indian suppliers filled most of the gap. This end of the year 2023, Vallourec will shut down major European
Figure 5: Representative Steel Tube and Pipe Prices (OCTG – P110 USA and Structural S235 Turkey)
Source: Kallanish.com
Market information
Figure 6: World Tube and Pipe Production 2017 – 2022e Source: Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahlrohre e.V.
Figure 7: USA - Tube and Pipe Production 2020 – 2022 Source: Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahlrohre e.V.
Figure 8: India - Tube and Pipe Production 2020 – 2022 Source: Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahlrohre e.V.
ITAtube Journal May 2023
11