Sales at Ukraine’s Interpipe fell by 17pc to 662,400mt in 2020, driven largely by a 21pc drop in pipe sales to 469,900mt.
The company cited the decline in hydrocarbon prices and exploration rigs counts in 2020 as the chief factor for the decrease. Interpipe’s share of export in total sales, however, increased to 81pc in 2020. Pipe production made up 71pc of its total steel output while railroad products and round billets made up 25pc and 4pc, respectively.
Sales in the domestic market decreased by 31pc to 102,000mt and fell in the Americas region by 63pc to 52,000mt. European sales declined by 6pc to 137,000mt of pipes. In the Middle East, Interpipe managed to increase sales by 9pc to 111,000mt.
Interpipe began to ship linear pipes to Abu-Dabi National Oil under a long-term contract in 2020 with 26,000mt shipped by December. In November 2020, the Ukrainian pipe-maker completed its two-week capital repairs in record time in preparation for stronger sales expectations in 2021.
In late December 2020, Interpipe finalized a loan agreement for €37mn from Ukrgazbank. It is the first loan after its debt restructuring in October 2019 and essential to ease the debt burden said Denis Morozov, the company’s chief financial officer.