Factors effecting the price of Stainless Steel Tubes

What are the main factors that affect the price of stainless steel tubes? We analyze from the production process, inspection requirements, raw materials and other factors.

1. Production process.

Due to the higher production cost of bright annealing, the price of bright annealed tubes will be higher than that of pickling annealed tubes. Because the heat treatment speed of the bright annealing furnace is slow, the number of stainless steel tubes passing through each time is smaller, and additional electricity and ammonia will be consumed.

Since there are more production passes for small-diameter steel tubes, the price of small-diameter stainless steel tubes will be higher than that of large-diameter stainless steel pipes. In addition, polishing stainless steel tubing and U bend tube will also incur additional costs.

2. Inspection requirements

According to ASME SA213 requirements, Each tube shall be subjected to the nondestructive electric test or the hydrostatic test. The type of test to be used shall be at the option of the manufacturer. If the customer requires both testing, the cost will increase. Since UT Test is a non-mandatory test item, if the customer requires UT Test, the cost will also increase.

3. Raw materials

Stainless steel pipes are mainly affected by price fluctuations of nickel and molybdenum. For example, 304 Stainless Steel and 304L Stainless Steel is mainly affected by the fluctuation of nickel prices. 316L Stainless Steel and S32205 / S31803 duplex steel are affected by both nickel and molybdenum prices. For nickel prices and for molybdenum prices, we will refer to LME Nickel and LME Molybdenum.

For LME Nickel, refer to: https://www.lme.com/en/metals/non-ferrous/lme-nickel#Summary

For LME Molybdenum, refer to: https://www.lme.com/en/metals/ev/lme-molybdenum-platts#Trading+day+summary