Russia boosts steel pipe output in 2 mths
MOSCOW. March 28 (Interfax) - Russia boosted steel pipe output in January-February 2011, the Economic Development Ministry says in materials.
Output rose 26.8% for large-diameter electro-welded pipes and 35.9% for electro-welded pipes other than large-diameter, but fell 15.1% for welded pipes other than electro-welded pipes.
Output of oil-well tubing fell 1.5%, but casing pipe production soared 28.4% and drilling pipes production doubled.
Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (ChTPZ) (ChelPipe) boosted pipe production 67.8% year-on-year in the two months to 191,800 tonnes, and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) raised it 19% to 117,700 tonnes.
Volzhsky Pipe Mill (VTZ), which is controlled by TMK , raised production 32% year-on-year to 233,700 tonnes; TMK's Tagmet raised it 13% to 114,600 tonnes; Seversky Tube Works (STZ) - 10.5% to 110,300 tonnes; and Sinara Tube Works - 8.2% to 89,600 tonnes.
Vyksa Steel Works , controlled by United Metallurgical Company (OMK), increased pipe production 5.9% to 332,100 tonnes.
Russia steel pipe imports grew 270% year-on-year in January 2011 to 180,100 tonnes as imports from the CIS tripled to 105,900 tonnes and imports from outside the CIS soared 5.8-fold to 74,200 tonnes.
Pipe imports from Ukraine rose considerably, to 98,600 tonnes.
Imported pipes accounted for 19.6% of the Russian market in January 2011 - above the average for 2010 (15.3%) and 2009 (10.8%). Imports had been above 17% of the domestic market for several years to 2008.
Russian steel pipe exports rose 45.8% year-on-year in January to 78,800 tonnes, but fell short of the 94,600 tonnes that Russian shipped abroad in December 2010.
Russia has exported pipes mainly to the CIS for a number of years, but pipe exports to non-CIS countries soared 164.7% year-on-year in January 2011 to 51,800 tonnes, which was 6.8% above December 2010. Exports to the CIS fell 27.8% year-on-year in January and 61.4% from December 2010 to 27,000 tonnes. Pipe imports by Russian exceeded exports by 130% in January compared with the same month last year.