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Figure 10: Regional Steel Tube and Pipe Production Seamless (ktons) Source: ITA tube Journal/Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahlrohre e.V.
ROW (+3 %). CIS (-6 %) and EU 27 (-3 %) had reductions. All other regions/countries had almost no changes compared to 2018.
The most volatile market segment is that of the seamless tubes and pipes (Figure 9). This product. Only in the years from 2014 to 2016 the world production was reduced by about 10.000 tons (-20 %). Since then, the production has had a moderate recovery. The worldwide production volume increased by 4 % in 2018. After severe produc-
tion cutbacks in the past years the industry has, for the rst time in 1st quarter 2019, a production level close to that of 2012!
The present growth in 1st quarter 2019 is dominated by the large volume in China (+2 %), India (+20 %), ROW (+4 %) and Japan (+2 %). On the other hand, CIS (-2 %) and USA (-4 %) had shrinking pro- duction gures (Figure 10).
The worldwide production of welded pipes < 406 mm OD (Figure 12) is showing a moder-
Market information
tube plant infrastructure regard- ing tube mills, nishing lines as well as applied quality assurance has also a signi cant importance. Growing importance can be seen in agile management strate- gies regarding customer bene t, process and product quality enhancement by applying “Indus- try 4.0” measures. First interest- ing applications of “Industry 4.0” in the tube and pipe industry were presented by various speakers at the ITA tube conference in Düssel- dorf this April 2019.
Taking the above-mentioned market trends, it is remarkable how they show their marks in the world steel tube and pipe produc- tion.
The steel tube and pipe production was steadily growing until 2015 to a value of more than 171.000 tons/year (Figure 7). The down- turn in 2016 to 167.000 tons/year was mainly re ected in the USA, CIS and ROW. In 2017 the market turned around again but China as the main tube and pipe producer lost about 6.000 tons/a while all other countries, especially the US, increased their production to overcompensate Chinas reduced production. In the 1st quarter of 2019 the world tube and pipe production reached a new record height of extrapolated 174.600 tons/year.
Figure 8 shows the break down for the relevant regions in more detail. Especially the USA driven by the trade policy offensive of Mr. Trump took great advantage and gained about 4.600 tons/year (+60 %) of production since 2016. In 1st quarter 2019, the world steel tube and pipe production was growing again being dom- inated by a further recovery of China (+2 %), the USA (+4 %) and
Figure 9: World Steel Tube and Pipe Production Seamless (ktons) Source: ITA tube Journal/Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahlrohre e.V.
ITAtube Journal No3/October 2019
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