During the first five months of 2009, pipe product consumption in the Russian domestic market saw a decrease of 35.7 percent to 2.1 million mt, compared to the same period last year, Russian pipe producer TMK's vice president for marketing Sergey Bilan has stated.
In January-May 2009, the market share of hot rolled pipes decreased by 40 percent year on year to 206,400 mt. The main consumers of HR pipes were companies from the housing, communal services and machine building sectors. In addition, the consumption of cold deformed pipes went down by 61 percent year on year to 23,300 mt.
During the first five months of 2009, Russia registered a 30.3 percent decrease in the consumption of boiler pipes to 12,100 mt, a 45 percent drop in the consumption of stainless pipes to 10,800 mt, a 35.4 percent fall in the consumption of welded pipes to 300,000 mt, and a 41 percent decrease in the consumption of shaped steel tubes to 301,400 mt, all compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, the consumption of water and gas supply steel welded pipes decreased by 28.9 percent year on year to 141,700 mt, while the consumption of galvanized pipes dropped by 43.4 percent year on year to 24,000 mt.