Page 10 - ITAtube Journal 3 2024

Market information
tion via electrolysis in an industrial scale
requires not only masses of clean water,
but also a lot of electrical energy. About 55
MW electrical energy per ton of Hydrogen
must be considered. Furthermore, the
chemical process, the electrolysis, requires
permanent electrical energy 24 hours
over 7 days per week with limited power
network variations. The lifetime of the
electrolyse stacks is significantly reduced
in case of larger power supply volatility.
Therefore, green hydrogen production
seems only feasible in regions with steady
electrical power supply from sun, wind,
water or nuclear sources. In most parts
of Europe such constant power supply at
reasonable cost is still hardly to be real-
ized by the green energy sources. Some
specialists e.g. from OECD therefore con-
sider producing hydrogen in regions with
steady and reasonable electrical supply
such as some places in Middle East or
Africa. Economically transportable goods
shall than be produced near the electrical
source and then further processed in the
industrial centres like Europe or northern
Asia. DRI could so become an ideal import
product which could then be further pro-
cessed in electrical steel plants to a wide
range of specifications. Such value chains
as proposed by OECD specialists would
secure most technological knowledge and
employment levels for the traditional met-
allurgical plants. Unfortunately, such ideas
are still not supported by most European
politicians.
The total world tube and pipe production
in first 6 months 2024 was 82,2 million
tons. After the record year 2023 the
market calmed down a bit again. If this
production volume 2024 is extrapolated to
full year, we report a world tube produc-
tion cut of - 4% (figure 4).
Figure 5 report the volumes of the major
tube and pipe production segments in
the first 6 months of 2024. The largest
segment are tubes and pipes with a diam-
eter < 406 mm (<16”) accounting to 46,4
million tons, followed by seamless tubes
and pipes accounting for 22,3 million
tons and welded tubes and pipes > 406 (>
16”) mm diameter, mainly pipeline pipes,
accounting to 11,5 million tons.
Looking at the different regions, signif-
icant different trends regarding tube
and pipe production are reported (figure
6). India (-25%) indicates the largest cut
in production. We know from previous
years, that the reported Indian figures are
always low for the first 6 months of a year,
anyhow cuts of -42% for tubes < 16” are
quite remarkable. Despite such alarming
figures we think that the Indian tube and
pipe producers will further benefit from
the economical- and GDP growth as well
Figure 5: World Tube and Pipe Production 2024
first 6 Months in Product Segments
as the demand for pipelines to supply oil
Source: Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahlrohre, ITA
and gas to the county and its distribution
throughout the country.
10 ITAtube Journal December 2024
Figure 4: World Tube and Pipe Production 2017 - 2024
first 6 Months (extrapolated)
Source: Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahlrohre, ITA