OREANDA-NEWS. February 11, 2011. In 2010, MMK demonstrated almost 50% increase in metal products shipments to the Russian pipe-making industry

Last year, the company shipped over 2.376 million tons of rolled products to pipe manufacturers in Russia (48% up from 1.603 million tons in 2009). The share of tubular products in MMK’s overall shipments to the domestic market climbed to 34% (33% in 2009).

MMK’s major customers in the pipe-making industry are Seversky and Volzhsky pipe plants (both affiliated to TMK), Vyksa Steel Works and Almetyevsk Pipe Plant (both affiliated to OMK), and Chelyabinsk Pipe Plant.

Such a significant increase in shipments to the pipe-making sector was primarily ensured by the 5000 mm Plate Mill (estimated output 1.5 mtpy) commissioned in 2009 to produce high-quality billets for big-diameter pipes. The mill reached its full capacity in 2010 and produced its first million tons of hot-rolled plates by September 2010. Last year the mill produced 943,000 tons of commercial steel products. The Mill 5000 has strengthened MMK foothold on the Russian market of rolled metal for pipemakers and secured MMK’s partaking in major oil-and-gas projects including Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok and Bovanenkovo-Ukhta gas mains and BTS-2 and VSTO oil pipelines.