According to the data issued by Russia's Ministry of Economic Development, in the first five months of this year Russia registered a 46.8 percent increase in its pipe production to 3.538 million mt.
In particular, in the January-May period, Russia's output of electric-welded large diameter (LD) pipes increased by 91 percent, its production of electric-welded pipes, excluding LD pipes, went up by 34.3 percent, its production of welded pipes rose by 21.2 percent, production of seamless pipes saw an increase of 28.2 percent, output of casing pipes increased by 14.5 percent, production of drill pipes went up by 43.1 percent, while output of tubing increased by nine percent, all compared to the same period last year.
During the period in question, an increase in pipe production was registered by all major domestic pipemakers. In particular, TMK's Volzhsky Pipe Plant saw its pipe production rise by 153.9 percent to 412,800 mt, its subsidiary Taganrog Metallurgical Works saw an 18.7 percent increase in output to 274,400 mt, its Seversky Tube Works registered a 12.7 percent increase to 266,700 mt, and its Sinarsky Pipe Plant saw its pipe output increase by 1.8 percent to 212,200 mt, all compared to January-May 2009. Meanwhile, OMK's Vyksa Steel Works (Vyksa) increased its pipe output by 35.4 percent to 821,200 mt, ChTPZ Group's Pervouralsky Novotrubny Works (PNTZ) saw a 27.6 percent rise in its pipe output to 282,300 mt and the same group's Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant saw its production increase by 43.5 percent to 320,700 mt, all compared to the first five months of the previous year.
Accordingly, the increase in pipe output indicates a rise of consumption in Russian industrial sectors, such as oil and gas, machine building and construction.
In January-April 2010, Russia increased its steel pipe imports by 35.9 percent year on year to 262,900 mt, mainly due to increased supplies from CIS countries (up 51.3 percent to 158,300 mt) and from non-CIS countries (up 17.8 percent to 104,600 mt). The share of imported pipes in the domestic market amounted to 9.4 percent, which is below the annual average level for 2009, i.e., 10.8 percent, with the share of Ukrainian pipes decreasing to 4.2 percent from the traditional 6-7.5 percent. Meanwhile, during the period in question the country's pipe exports decreased by 53.9 percent year on year to 293,400 mt. However, pipe exports in April this year increased by 73.9 percent compared to March to 106,700 mt, due to significant growth in shipments to non-CIS countries.
In January-April this year, Russia's domestic consumption of pipes increased by 77.4 percent year on year to 2.806 million tons, reaching the pre-crisis volume of domestic consumption in the January-April 2008 period.