The overall weakness in the flat-rolled market seems to be trickling down to pipe and tube, market sources tell Kallanish.

A mill source characterises A500 and A53 demand as steady and better than flat-rolled demand, but low skelp costs are keeping pricing down. Skelp, Kallanish notes, is wrought iron or steel that is rolled or forged into narrow strips and ready to be made into pipe or tubing by being shaped and welded.

“If anything, I’d say the overall demand is not bad,” he says. “I don’t see the slowdown or weakness in demand in total that the flat-rolled guys seem to be [seeing]. It’s more the margin side of business.” He puts A53 standard pipe pricing at $720-740/st. 

A West Coast buy-side source also says that lower flat-rolled pricing is eating away at finished pipe pricing, and regional demand is coming primarily from special-built projects. `“I think we’re in for kind of a malaise,” he says.