According to the data issued by Russia's Ministry of Economic Development, in the first 10 months of this year Russia registered a 37.3 percent increase in its pipe production to 7.373 million mt.
In particular, in the January-October period, Russia's output of electric-welded large diameter (LD) pipes increased by 65.7 percent, its production of electric-welded pipes, excluding LD pipes, went up by 26.6 percent, its production of welded pipes went down by 4.5 percent, production of seamless pipes saw an increase of 27 percent, output of casing pipes increased by 26.8 percent, production of drill pipes went up by 65.4 percent, while output of tubing increased by 12.5 percent, all compared to the same period last year.
In January-October this year, 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 84.2 percent to 855,200 mt, its subsidiary Taganrog Metallurgical Works saw a 23.1 percent increase in output to 595,900 mt, its Seversky Tube Works registered a 13.6 percent increase to 557,600 mt, while its Sinarsky Pipe Plant saw its pipe output increase by six percent to 434,700 mt, all compared to January-October 2009. Meanwhile, OMK's Vyksa Steel Works (Vyksa) increased its pipe output by 28.7 percent to 1.62 million mt, ChTPZ Group's Pervouralsky Novotrubny Works saw a 28.3 percent rise in its pipe output to 575,500 mt and the same group's Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant saw its pipe production increase by 40 percent to 653,200 mt, all compared to the first 10 months of the previous year.
In January-September 2010, Russia more than doubled its steel pipe imports by 122.5 percent year on year to 987,600 mt. The share of imported pipes in the domestic market amounted to 14.7 percent, which is above the annual average level for 2009, i.e., 10.8 percent.
Meanwhile, in January-September the country's pipe exports decreased by 39.7 percent year on year to 752,100 mt.
The domestic consumption of pipes in January-September (excluding stocks) increased by 72.3 percent year on year and by 7.1 percent compared to the same period of 2008, with pipemakers switching from foreign markets to satisfy demand from the domestic market.