Yunnan Tingyuan Steel Pipe Co., Ltd., manufacturers and wholesalers of Tianjin Youfa galvanized steel pipes, Hebei Tianchuang galvanized steel pipes, Chengdu Huaxi galvanized steel pipes, Yunnan Fangyuan galvanized steel pipes, Yunnan Huifeng galvanized steel pipes, welded pipes, square pipes, rectangular pipes, spiral pipes, seamless pipes, steel frame pipes, steel pipe manufacturers. Reviewing the price trend of domestic welded pipes and galvanized steel pipes in March, the overall trend was an increase after a decrease, followed by another increase. Mysteel learned that from late February to early March, the开工 rates of domestic projects increased, domestic welded pipe trading improved, and with the recovery of market demand, the price of welded pipes rose in the face of supply and demand competition. By the first half of March, due to the outbreaks in various regions of the country and the shutdown of downstream construction sites, coupled with the turbulent international situation, the market turned bearish, causing a decline in China's steel prices and a general downward trend in the price of welded pipes. In the third week and the latter half of March, the situation in North China was severe, especially in Tangshan, the main producer of domestic steel strip, which affected the supply and transportation of steel strip in the country. The price of raw steel strip rose due to the supply and demand relationship, the cost of welded pipes increased, and pipe manufacturers raised the ex-factory prices of welded pipes to prevent profit margin inversion, leading to another increase in the market price of welded pipes. Looking back at the past years, March and April have always been a period of intense spring construction, but this year's situation and macro messages have had a profound and unexpected impact on the welded pipe market. With the domestic situation gradually under control, whether the urgent demand in our country can be released in the coming April and whether the current high price of welded pipes can continue to rise remains to be seen. Next, the author will briefly summarize the recent market from the perspectives of price, supply and demand, and raw materials, and make predictions on the price trend of welded pipes in April. 1. Price and Profit Situation The price of welded pipes in March showed a trend of rising, falling, and then rising. As of March 31st, the national average price of 4-inch * 3.75mm welded pipes in China was 5,454 yuan/ton, up 50 yuan/ton from the previous week, up 148 yuan/ton from the previous month, and up 18 yuan/ton from the same period last year. Looking back at the domestic welded pipe market in March, the market's production and sales inventory were greatly affected, and the market showed a situation of weak supply and demand. The price difference between welded and galvanized pipes narrowed, and the profit of welded pipes recovered. As of March 31st, the price difference between Tianjin welded pipes and galvanized pipes was 730 yuan/ton, down 40 yuan/ton from the previous week and up 70 yuan/ton from the same period last year. In terms of profit, taking Tianjin as an example, this week's order profit margin for welded pipes was -80 yuan/ton, unchanged from the previous week, up 130 yuan/ton from the same period last year; the order profit margin for galvanized pipes was -98 yuan/ton, down 56 yuan/ton from the previous week, up 118 yuan/ton from the same period last year. 2. Supply Side 1. The production rate and capacity utilization of pipe manufacturers have both decreased According to the research data of our website on 29 mainstream pipe manufacturers in the country, this week's production of welded pipes was 389,000 tons, down 44,000 tons from the previous week, with a capacity utilization rate of 74.2%, down 8.3% from the previous week, and an operating rate of 74.5%, down 3.1% from the previous week. The inventory in the factory was 403,000 tons, down 4,000 tons from the previous week, and the raw material inventory was 744,000 tons, down 63,000 tons from the previous week. The production of galvanized pipes (28 manufacturers) was 313,000 tons, down 33,000 tons from the previous week, with a capacity utilization rate of 79.6%, down 8.4% from the previous week, and the operating rate of galvanized strip was 80%, up 1.1% from the previous week. The inventory in the factory was 398,000 tons, up 6,000 tons from the previous week, and the weekly zinc ingot consumption was 6,011 tons, down 259 tons from the previous week. From the production data, it can be seen that the capacity utilization rate and operating rate of pipe manufacturers in the Chinese welded pipe market show a significant downward trend. The author believes that there are the following important reasons: domestic influence on the supply of raw materials for pipe manufacturers, insufficient supply of steel strip, pipe manufacturers "without enough raw materials," and passive reduction in production; secondly, the supply of raw steel strip is less than demand, the market price is relatively high, the profit of welded pipe production is high, and pipe manufacturers actively reduce production; in addition, due to the shutdown of many downstream construction sites, and the low acceptance of the current high price of welded pipes, the overall demand of downstream engineering has not been released, causing the current situation. 2. The social inventory of welded pipes slightly increased, and market transactions were poor Looking at the inventory, as of the end of the month, the production and inventory of pipe manufacturers both decreased, and the decrease in production of affected pipe manufacturers was significant. The inventory decreased slightly, and the sales of pipe manufacturers were not ideal. The social inventory increased slightly, with slight decreases in the south and north of China and the northeast, and slight increases in other regions. As of the time of writing, the sample inventory of welded pipes in major cities across the country was 927.8 tons, up 7.8 tons from the previous week, down 16.1 tons from the previous month, and up 0.93 million tons from the same period last year. In the face of the significant decline in the production rate, capacity utilization, and factory inventory of pipe manufacturers, the gap in factory inventory supply to social inventory appeared, but the social inventory showed an increase. The analysis shows that the demand for welded pipes in the market is still low, and the overall transaction situation of the welded pipe market is poor.