by COURTNEY RAU, Global Project Materials Specialist, Chevron
More than 300 distributors, fabricators, manufacturers, suppliers and end users from the pipe, valves and fittings (PVF) industry were in attendance for the PVF Roundtable's quarterly meeting at The Bell Tower on 34th in Houston.
While still practicing social distancing, networking commenced over cocktails as many members discussed the upsurge in quoting activity rippling through the PVF market. Many asked, "Where are the orders to follow?" It seems many industrial expansion projects have yet to receive the green light to proceed.
As the pipe market tightened with supplier availability, raw material costs to the mills increased drastically. This, in conjunction with tariffs and junctions, essentially caused costs to skyrocket overnight. Pipe distributors had to make a decision: be out of supply or order everything available.
Even at increased pricing, pipe is still being sold, and certain sizes in the welded market have run dry. There are holes all over the market availability, whether it's 6-inch standard (STD) electric-resistance welded pipe (ERW), 4-inch STD ERW, etc. It's all gone.
The pipe market isn't seeing massive projects getting a green light, but it is seeing day-to-day orders for normal compressor station relocations and pipe run projects of a mile or under. These pipe sizes are still needed, but large quantities of this material aren't available. As the price of oil remains steady or climbs, projects will need material even if it isn't miles of it. This is certainly causing a stir in the market, and distributors will continue to buy and try to keep up.
The combination of the oil market rebounding; anti-dumping suits; and tariffs placed on major pipe-producing countries such as Ukraine, South Korea and the Czech Republic has made the pipe that is in stock much more valuable. Projects that were quoted on a three-month to fourmonth horizon from inquiry to order are experiencing "sticker shock" as the price of pipe continues to soar.
The valve industry is seeing about a 5-percent growth worldwide.
"Valveconn is growing at 10 percent, even amidst the pandemic, which shows just how strong the industrial valve market is globally," said Javier Benavides, president of Valveconn. "While everyone is trying to adapt to the 'new normal,' we are seeing new challenges arise, such as a higher load of quote requests at the same time our partners need accelerated quote turnarounds."
"The welded fittings market for carbon steel and high yield has absolutely seen a rise in activity recently," said Jeremiah Jackson, president of The PVF Sales Group and a PVF Young Professionals committee member. "Like many, we are still awaiting project releases on the infrastructure front. I feel very strongly that some major projects will break loose this summer as the demand for midstream fittings increases."
PVF Roundtable member companies are anxiously waiting for the levee to break, when all of the massive quotes become firm orders to put the industry back on track with pre-pandemic sales numbers.
Do you want to know more about the PVF Roundtable? Join us Aug. 10 for a quarterly networking meeting at The Bell Tower on 34th. Then, come fish with us at our annual TroutBlast Fishing Tournament Oct. 7-8 in Matagorda, Texas.
For more information, visit www.pvf.org or call (281) 590-0190.
by COURTNEY RAU, Global Project Materials Specialist, Chevron
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