Interpipe pipe output rises 23% yoy in 8M18

Pipe production at Ukraine’s largest producer Interpipe
(INPIP) was 2.27 kt per day (or 70.5 kt per month) in August, a 0.3% m/m
decrease, according to Concorde Capital’s analysis of a Sept. 17 news report by
Interfax-Ukraine.

Interpipe NTRP pipe production dropped 2.3% m/m to
0.83 kt per day in August. Interpipe NMPP output rose 7.2% m/m to 0.38 kt per
day. Interpipe Niko Tube output decreased 1.2% m/m to 1.06 kt per day.

In 8M18, Interpipe’s pipe production was 521.2 kt, or
22.8% more yoy.

In a separate news report, Interfax-Ukraine said that
Interpipe Steel’s output of crude steel was 2.48 kt per day in August, a 15.4%
m/m plunge. The 8M18 steel output at Interpipe Steel was 660 kt, a 16.0% yoy
jump.

Dmytro Khoroshun: Interpipe’s daily pipe production volume remained strong in August,
but we are worried about the drop in crude steel production at Interpipe Steel,
which might signal a drop in pipe production ahead. We therefore revise our
forecasts and now expect the company to produce 0.75 mmt of pipes in 2018, up
14% yoy (previously we expected 0.77 mmt of pipes in 2018). We continue to
think the time is right for Interpipe and its creditors to move forward with
the debt restructuring the company has recently proposed.