Page 11 - ITAtube Journal 2 2025

Market information
Figure 5: Energy Mix of Sweden in 2024
Source: lowcarbonpower.org
are exceptions and possible regions for
economical hydrogen production. In any
case will hydrogen pipelines create addi-
tional markets for alloyed steel tubes.
Sweden with reasonable base load sources
like hydro- and nuclear power is in a
unique position to produce green energy
at reasonable cost compared to most
other European regions. (Figure 5).
Some specialists e.g. from OECD consider
producing hydrogen in regions with steady
and reasonable electrical supply such
as some places in Middle East or North
Africa. Economically transportable goods
shall than be produced near the electrical
source and then further processed in the
industrial centres like Europe or Asia. DRI
could so become an ideal import product
which could then be further processed in
electrical steel plants to a wide range of
specifi cations. Such value chains as pro-
posed by OECD specialists would secure
most technological knowledge and employ-
ment levels for the traditional metallurgical
plants. Unfortunately, such ideas are still
not supported by most European politicians
which may have further negative implica-
tions on the landscape of metallurgical and
tubular production in Europe.
The total world tube and pipe production
in 2024 was 161 million tons. After the
record year 2023 with a production of 175
million tons, the market calmed down.
Recent fi gures report a world tube pro-
duction cut of - 8% in 2024 (Figure 6). This
production cut puts again pressure on the
tube producers in many regions of the
world. Anyhow prices for OCTG tubes and
structural tubes kept on stabilizing.
Figure 7, shows the price development for
two representative tube grades since June
2022:
- P110 OCTG O.D. 5,5” alloyed casing pipe.
- S235 non alloyed structural pipe.
The OCTG pipe price for P110, after its
hight in October 2022 (ab. 3.900 USD/ton)
experienced a price decline of ab. 58%
until August 2024 (ab. 1.650 USD/ton) -
however, since then, it seems the price has
stabilized at a level of about 2.000 USD/
ton. The demand has stabilized due to
Figure 7: Representative Steel Tube and Pipe Prices
increased number of gas rigs.
(OCTG – P110 USA and Structural S235 Turkey)
Source: Kallanish.com
ITAtube Journal August 2025 11
Figure 6: World Tube and Pipe Production 2017 - 2024
Source: Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahlrohre, ITA