The Russian pipe producer TMK Group (TMK) has announced that in January-September this year it shipped a total of 2.86 million mt of pipes - up 49 percent year on year, with shipment volumes in Q3 amounting to 996,000 mt - up seven percent over Q2, as market conditions maintained positive trends.
Shipped steel pipe product | Q3 2010 | Change q-o-q (%) | Jan-Sept 2010 | Change y-o-y (%) |
Seamless steel pipe | 508,000 | -2.5% | 1,566,000 | +33.4% |
Welded steel pipe | 488,000 | +19% | 1,294,000 | +74.2% |
Total steel pipes | 996,000 | +7% | 2,860,000 | +49.1% |
Including OCTG | 347,000 | -5.2% | 1,075,000 | +48.5% |
Accordingly, the slight decrease in TMK's Q3 sales of seamless pipes, including OCTG, was due to traditional seasonal factors in Russia and the implementation of some maintenance works. In January-September this year, TMK's shipments of seamless OCTG increased by 4.1 percent year on year, while its share of the Russian drill pipe market grew from 65.9 percent to 72.1 percent.
Large diameter (LD) steel pipe demand remained strong and the implementation of large-scale pipeline projects by Gazprom and Transneft allowed TMK to increase its LD pipe shipments in Q3 by 23.7 percent quarter on quarter and to boost shipments in the January-September period by 181.5 percent year on year.
As expected, in Q3 growth was observed also in the Russian industrial pipe market, with demand being driven by the gradual recovery in the machine-building and automotive industries, as well as in the chemical and nuclear sectors. As a result, TMK's Q3 shipments of industrial pipes increased by 11.1 percent as compared to Q2.
In addition, as a result of increased demand for line pipe for oil and gas field developments, TMK increased shipment volumes for this product in Q3 by 13.5 percent quarter on quarter.
TMK said it expects to maintain its current level of capacity utilization until the end of the year, which will allow for an increase in pipe production in Q4 in comparison with Q3.