In January-June of this year, the enterprises of the association “Ukrtruboprom” reduced the production of pipes by 24.4% compared to the same period last year – to 235.2 thousand tons.
According to the updated data of the association, in January, “Ukrtruboprom” enterprises increased the output of pipes by 2.2 times compared to the same period last year – to 61.3 thousand tons, in February – by 16.2%, to 49 thousand tons. tons, but production has been declining since March.
So, in March, the output of pipes was 3.5 thousand tons (5.9% to March-2021), in April – 18.5 thousand tons (32.1% to March-2021), in May – 51.4 thousand tons (86.5%), in June – 51.6 thousand tons (76.6%).
In general, in the first half of the year, all plants demonstrated negative dynamics. “Interpipe Nico Tube” and “Trubostal” reduced the production of seamless pipes by 14% and 44.4%, respectively, “Sentravis” – stainless pipes by 25%, “Interpipe NMTZ” – electric welding pipes by 37.6%.
General Director of “Ukrtruboprom” Giorgiy Polskyi noted that at the beginning of the year, pipe factories increased production against the background of favorable conditions in foreign markets, which is mainly due to the post-Kovid recovery of the world economy and high hydrocarbon prices. However, the full-scale invasion of Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine led to the sharpest decline in production: in March, almost the entire industry came to a standstill.
“In April, Ukrainian pipe manufacturers began to cautiously start up production facilities, and in May-June enterprises reached 50% capacity utilization from the pre-war period. However, individual plants are severely underutilized, as new supply chains and logistics schemes are still in the process of restructuring and formation, for example, “Interpipe NMTZ” used to receive raw materials (strips) from “Azovstal”, but now it is impossible due to the occupation of Mariupol,” said Polsky, quoted by the press service.
According to him, now logistics is the main factor why pipe factories cannot reach pre-war production volumes. The outage of many suppliers in the east and south of Ukraine has been a big loss for pipe workers from the point of view of traditional supply chains. In addition, many traditional logistics schemes have been disrupted: Ukrainian seaports on the Black Sea have been blocked, there is a serious shortage of gasoline and diesel fuel in the country, and the transport infrastructure has been destroyed by enemy missile strikes.
“This forces enterprises to look for new, more expensive routes for transporting products for export through western border crossings and European seaports. In addition, the constant increase in energy prices, primarily natural gas and electricity, lead to an additional increase in the cost of pipe products and reduce their competitiveness on foreign markets”, – summed up the general director.
As reported, in 2021, Ukraine increased the output of pipes by 15.1% compared to the previous year – to 980.7 thousand tons, in particular, the enterprises of “Ukrtruboprom” increased their production by 32.6% – to 710.5 thousand tons.
