The Russian steel producer Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) and the Russian pipe producer TMK Group (TMK) are continuing to develop their partnership within the framework of the memorandum for strategic cooperation until 2015 which was signed in February 2007, MMK has said in a company release.
TMK is one of the largest customers of MMK, accounting for more than 40 percent of the overall sales of MMK to pipe producing companies in 2009.
In 2009, MMK's shipments to TMK increased by nine percent year on year to 648,000 mt, including 69,000 mt of plates produced at MMK's new plate mill 5000, commissioned in July 2009.
During the visit of TMK board chairman Mr. Dmitriy Pumpyanskiy to MMK on January 18, the parties signed a supplementary agreement to the memorandum for strategic cooperation, regarding further coordinated actions of MMK and TMK within the scope of the projects of Russian oil and gas companies Gazprom and Transneft for the construction of new pipelines.
MMK has historically focused on the manufacturing of steel products for the pipe industry. Pipe producing companies are the main consumers of MMK products in the Russian domestic market. In 2009, their share in MMK's overall shipments to the domestic market increased to 36 percent, up from 28 percent in 2008.