Interpipe pipe sales plunge 46% m/m in January

Railway product sales volume at Ukraine’s largest pipe
and railway wheel producer Interpipe (INTHOL) was 9.8 kt in January, a 41.5%
m/m dive, according to the company’s monthly operational report released on
Feb. 18. Pipe sales plunged 45.5% m/m to 43.0 kt, while external billet sales
lost 41.6% m/m to 4.3 kt.

The m/m decrease in pipe sales in January was driven
by drops for OCTG pipes to 14.8 kt (-58.0%) and line pipes to 20.5 kt (-40.5%).
Interpipe mentioned seasonality and peak deliveries at the end of 2021 as the
reasons for the drops.

The m/m dive in railway product sales in January was
driven by a 46.7% drop for wheels to 7.5 kt.

Ukraine’s share of Interpipe’s pipe sales in January
was 21%, or 2pp more than in 2021, while Europe’s share was 29%, or 5pp higher.
The share of sales in the Americas was the same as in 2021 at 21% and the share
of CIS countries dropped 4pp to 7%. MENA’s share was unchanged at 22%.

The share of Interpipe’s railway product sales in
Ukraine in January jumped 15pp from 2021 to 31%, while the share of sales to
Europe surged 13pp to 46%. The share of sales to CIS countries plunged 20pp to
16%. The share of sales in the Americas lost 4pp to 2%, and sales to other
countries was unchanged at 6%.

Regarding production volumes, Interpipe’s pipe output
lost 16.5% m/m to 52.7 kt in January, while its railway product output dropped
13.3% m/m to 13.8 kt and steel production slid 0.9% m/m to 93.0 kt.

Dmytro Khoroshun: Interpipe’s
sales of both pipes and railway products should rebound m/m in February.

A rebound is expected on the basis of market
sentiments and the fact that January’s m/m drops in production volumes for both
pipes and railway products were smaller than the drops for sales volumes, as
Interpipe mentioned in its release.