OREANDA-NEWS. On 08 June 2009 Vyksa Steel Works (VSW, Nizhni Novgorod Region), part of United Metallurgical Company (OMK) had reported its operating results for April and the first 4 months of 2009.

VSW produced 138 475 tonnes of pipes of various grades in April, which is 0.6% more than in the equivalent period last year (137,716 tonnes). VSW manufactured 78,505 tonnes of large-diameter pipes (LDP), which is 6.3% more than in April 2008 (73,858 tonnes).

From the beginning of the year, VSW produced 490,811 tonnes of pipes, or 98.3% of last year’s equivalent period (499,277 tonnes). LDP output was 316,491 tonnes, which is 26.3% more than in January-April 2008 (250,535 tonnes).

The VSW Wheel Rolling Facility produced 50,919 railroad wheels in April (as compared with 68,002 wheels manufactured in April 2008). The total output from the beginning of the year was 148,367 wheels (as compared with 281,642 wheels in last year’s equivalent period).

“In April, for the first time from the beginning of the global economic crisis, VSW achieved positive changes in its total pipe output as compared with last year’s equivalent period,” said VSW Executive Director Vladimir Kochetkov. “We have increased our output of small-diameter pipes designed for housing and utility services and the construction sector, as well as medium-diameter pipes for the oil and gas industry. Utilization of our LDP capacity remains steadily high, largely due to OMK’s participation in the projects Nord Stream and Central Asia – China, as well as the orders from Gazprom. This year’s output of railroad wheels is still significantly lower than in 2008, due to the drop in demand on the part of Russian Railways and other customers, although our April figure was the highest from the beginning of this year.”