Chinese steel producer Shougang Group has predicted that in 2010 consumption of line pipes will reach 6.2 million mt in Europe (including Russia), 10 million mt in the Americas, 5.7 million mt in the Middle East, 4.3 million mt in the African market, and less than 2 million mt in the Asian market.
For its line pipe exports in 2010, Shougang Group says that it plans to increase its exports of this product, concentrating on three destinations - Algeria, the Middle East and India. As regards Algeria, Shougang will forward its products to the North African market through cooperation with a Greek pipe producer. In the Middle East market, Shougang Steel has already established links with local pipe producers. In India, the company is also cooperating with the major local pipe suppliers.
Regarding the pipeline steel plate sector, Shougang will mainly target two regions for export, namely, Asia and Russia. For the Asian market, Shougang Steel has begun to supply X60 pipeline steel plates to South Korea since the end of 2009. As regards the Russian market, in 2009 the company inked a contract with local pipe producer TMK, in which it agreed to supply TMK with production technologies. Meanwhile, the company also plans to benefit from the large number of the local Russian pipeline projects.