Producersdonot reston their laurelsmaking
plansoncommissioningnew facilities in thenearest
future. Steelline,Novosibirsk, forexample, plans to
commission twomore tubeselectric-weldedplants in
2014, IntermetGroup,Moscow: three tubeselectric-
weldedplants in2014—2015with the total capacity
reaching310kty,DIA,Volzhsky: two tubeselectric-
weldedplants, capacity: 360kty,Gazpromtrubinvest,
Volgorechensk: 140—426 tubeselectric-weldedplant,
capacity: 350kty in2015etc.
Existinghollow sectionsaswell as round tubes
production facilitiesareplanned tobe fullyutilized.
According toS. Spivakov, Severstal,Cherepovets,
andSheksnaplan todispatch the total of about700kt
of tubularproducts in2014comparedwith670kt in
2013.Aspartof themodernizationprogram, Sheksna
will setuphydraulic test equipment andabeveling
machine. Severstal alsoconsiders transferring tubes
mills from itsEuropean toRussiandivisions.
P.Zheglov,CommercialDirector,Demidov
Group ismoreclose-tonguedwhen sharinghis future
plans.According tohim, growth inoutput in the
overproductioncausesdrop inmarginality.Thus,
DemidovGroup increasedoutputby25% in2013
comparedwith2012, howevermarginalitydropped
the same. Inorder tokeep itspositions in themarket
thecompanymasterednew typesofproducts in2013
including12new size-typesof tubes, halfofwhich
being roundmedium-size tubes.
Resultsof a surveyheldbyAGRUPP show
steel traderscomparedwithproducersaremore
pessimisticabout the stateof things in themarket.
A.Zaytsev,DirectorGeneral,AGRUPP, says,when
answering thequestion:Howdoyouestimateyour
company’s11monthsproduction results,more than
71% respondersestimated resultsas satisfactory,
whileonly28.6%asgood. 42.9%estimated sales
over the11months2013comparedwith the
correspondingperiod2012as the same,while21.4%
pointedoutdrop in sales.Themajorityof responders
stated the saleshavegrownno less than5%.Onlya
fewboastedamoreconsiderable increase in sales.
Whenconsidering sales in individual segmentsof the
tubesmarket last year, delegatescouldnotpointout
any segment showingbetter salesdynamicsas, for
example, in2011—2012whenalmost all themarket
playerscouldboastgrowing salesofhollow sections.
Last yearhollow sectionswere soldonaparwith
electric-welded tubesandpipes.Asbefore, drop in
saleswas registered inwelded small andmedium
diameter tubesand seamless tubes segments.
Among themain threats in themarket, traders
pointout low tubesconsumption (almost60%of
responders)andoverproduction (about32%),while
marketplayersare lessconcernedabout imports in
thedomesticmarket.
Among the factorshamperingmarketgrowth
responderspointedout lackof investments (45%),
undeveloped infrastructure (35%), and lackof
circulatingcapital (20%).However, despitebeing
negativeabout thegeneral situation in themarket,
in their forecasts tubes traderscharacterize
development in2014as restrained rather than
pessimistic.
A.Trofimov,TMKTradeHouse, says themarket
in2014will beveryharddue to lackofbigprojects
financed from the statebudget.Even the threenewly
announcedprojects includingbuildinganothercircle
roadaroundMoscow,Moscow-Kazanandprobably,
Kazan-Ekaterinburg roadsaswell as reconstruction
ofTransSiberianRailwaywillnotbecome large
consumersof tubesproducts.Under suchconditions,
muchhope is stillputonhousebuildingdue to
stimulationofuseofwaterandgas tubes.
S.Aleschenko,ChTPZ, believeswelded small-
diameter tubesandhollow sections segmentwill
growby3% in2014,OCTG:+7%, bigdiameterpipes:
+3%,while industrialpipesand seamlesshot-rolled
tubes segmentswill showdropby2%due toexpected
decrease inconsumption in theheavyengineering
industry.At the same time, due todevelopmentof
newand reconstructionof existingdeposits salesof
oil andgaspipeswill increase.
Inhisclosing speech,A.Romanov,President.The
RussianUnionofMetal andSteel Suppliers, points
out that today themarketdevelopment ishampered
by lackof coordinationamongmarketplayers,
inefficient territorialdistributionofproduction
facilities inRussia, andunfaircompetition. “The
current,not verypositive stateof things in the
market andageneral trend inbusinessdevelopment
will in thenearest future,makemarketplayersunite
effortsonmaking themarketmore transparent
andpredictable.Thecatalystof theseprocesses
will becomemeetingsand informationexchanges
at theeventsorganizedbyTheRussianUnionof
Metal andSteel Suppliers.Wehave toeventually
arriveatpracticesof thedevelopedcountries”, says
A.Romanov.
L
ReviewbyTatyanaIgnatenko.
29
Special Issue 2014
Metal Supply&Sales
