One of the largest Russian pipe producers, ChTPZ Group, which consists of Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (ChTPZ) and Pervouralsky Novotrubny Works, has announced its operational results for the first five months of 2009.
During the period in question, the group registered a 37 percent decrease year on year in its pipe shipments to 451,700 metric tons, due to a 36 percent decrease in demand in the Russian domestic pipe market compared to the same period last year.
In the first five months of 2009, the pipe deliveries of Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (ChTPZ) amounted to 224,400 mt - down 41.8 percent year on year, including 133,800 mt of large diameter pipes. In May 2009, ChTPZ shipped 36,900 mt of pipes - down 19.4 percent month on month, including 27,300 mt of large diameter pipes.
On the other hand, Pervouralsky Novotrubny Works' pipe shipments in January-May 2009 amounted to 227,300 mt - down by 32.3 percent year on year, while its May deliveries amounted to 45,000 mt - down 19.7 percent month on month.
The decrease in the company's May operational results was due to the stoppage for scheduled repair works of ChTPZ's hot rolled seamless pipe shop No.1 and of PNTZ's pipe rolling workshop No.8 which produces hot deformed pipes. The repair works in question took more than four weeks in the case of each subsidiary.