Ukrainian steel pipe and railway wheel producer Interpipe has announced its operational results for the first quarter this year.
As Interpipe had to suspend production at its key facilities in Ukraine until the beginning of April due to the war, production dynamics deteriorated. Accordingly, in the given period, Interpipe’s crude steel output decreased by 16 percent year on year to 163,000 mt.
In the first quarter of this year, the company’s output of pipe products declined by 12 percent year on year to 94,000 mt, while its sales of pipes declined by only two percent year on year to 102,000 mt in the given period. The reason why the decrease was slight was the fruitful business activity before February 24 when the war broke out. Another reason was the fact that most of the sales to the US and partially to Europe were built up by the stock available outside Ukraine and which were in transit. In particular, the output of seamless pipes totaled 41,000 mt, falling 34 percent year on year, while the company’s output of welded pipes decreased by 50 percent year on year to 7,000 mt. In the same period, the company’s seamless pipe sales declined by 25 percent to 45,000 mt compared to the same period of the previous year, largely due to the drop in sales in Europe and the MENA region amid war-related production and sales constraints.