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Market information
Figure 7: World Steel Tube and Pipe Production (ktons)
Source: ITA tube Journal/Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahlrohre e.V.
for buildings with seismic require- ments and/or dynamic loads as applied to bridges.
As an example, the 4th longest bridge in the world, the Izmit bay crossing bridge, is made of steel and pipe structures.
Both mayor segments of the con- struction market, anyhow require mayor lobbying efforts of the tube and pipe producing indus- try to further convince regula- tion authorities and project stake holders about the advantages of steel/tube structures as cost effective, aesthetic and sustain- able alternatives to concrete ele- ments.
One of the major players in the supply of tubes and pipes for the growing construction market, the US based Zekelman Industries, has only recently decided to invest in a new 30” continuous ERW pipe mill. This green eld plant will be installed in Blytheville Arkansas/ US, alongside to their existing Atlas Tube facilities. This plant is scheduled to start up in Septem- ber 2021.
All these steel tube and pipe markets can be subdivided in com- modity volume and the part with high-tech requirements. For the high-tech requirements, the deci- sive factors are the steel quality and the tube plant infrastructure. The steel quality for many high- tech steel tube and pipe appli- cations is demanding regarding chemistry and homogeneity. The availability of such steel qualities with the relevant uniformity for welded tubes and pipes as steel strip and plates as well as billets for seamless tubes and pipes is limited and creates sometimes a signi cant hurdle to supply tubes and pipes into such high-tech markets. On the other hand, the
Figure 8: Reginal World Steel Tube and Pipe Production Total (ktons) Source: ITA tube Journal/Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahlrohre e.V.
this diversi ed market segment for tubes and pipes.
Another attractive market for tube and pipe producers is the construction market, representing about 5 % of the world tube pro- duction. The construction market is steadily growing along with the GDP growth, as already dis- cussed in the ITA Tube Journal in October 2018. The mayor market applications for tubes and pipes
in the construction market are buildings as e.g. skyscrapers, bridges and load bearing applica- tions (Figure 6). Here we nd a signi cant competition between steel/tube structures and on the other side concrete elements. For skyscrapers the trend in emerg- ing countries to build high-rise towers is supporting the applica- tion of steel/tube structures. An outstanding advantage of steel/ tube structures are applications
ITAtube Journal No3/October 2019