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Figure 1: World production Steel Tubes and Pipes Source: ITATube Journal/Wirtschaftsvereinigung
Stahlrohr
Market information
Dr. Gunther Voswinckel, VOSCO GmbH
World Tube & Pipe Market: Factors influencing the current situation Dr. Gunther Voswinckel – Update as per October 2021
Welcome back to ITA’s regular presentation of the main worldwide economic factors influencing the tube and pipe industry.
In this article we discuss several economic consequences for the tube and pipe indus- try, arising from the unusual situation caused by Covid 19. In many regions of
the world, the corona pandemic has been brought partly under control. In the latter months of 2021, we witnessed an impres- sive restart of the industry. The demand for energy is booming whereas the supply chains are seriously disrupted. Interna- tional expenditure programs, established to counteract the economic consequences of the pandemic, flooded the markets with money. And so after a long period of finan- cial stability, we now see signs of upcom- ing inflation.
After a disastrous 2020, characterized by shrinking market demand, some tube and pipe producers closed their production facilities. By contrast, 2021 has been defined by increased demand, followed
by an enormous price and cost rally com- bined with deficits in the supply chains. It would seem that the price and cost surges peaked this fall 2021, although supply
chains, energy costs and the sourcing of qualified labour still present challenges. However, the market in principle provides enough tube and pipe producing capacity to serve the demand, and so will likely calm down as soon as demand and supply can be balanced again.
Still, energy costs will remain challenging for high energy consuming industries like the steel tube and pipe industry. Strate- gic measures for our industry are conse- quently quite demanding. Lean and agile organizations with flexible, customer-ori- entated production facilities are the best answer to demanding and volatile market requirements. Agile digital solutions in the spirit of “Industry 4.0” offer further opportunities to stay successful.
The International Tube Association organ- ized several well attended webinars in 2020 and 2021 as well as the virtual
fair ITA netForum 2020 to substitute the cancelled TUBE Düsseldorf 2020 to keep the exchange of our industry ongoing. This September 2021 new technologies were successfully presented at the FABTECH exhibition in Chicago. The ITA was also present with a booth to serve its members.
We are also looking forward for great exchange of our industry at our world largest tube and pipe show “Tube Düssel- dorf” in May 2022.
The year 2020 was disastrous for the tube and pipe industry. World tube production fell by 15% (Fig.1), with the USA (-24%) and Japan (-21%) the worst hit.
The smallest decline was reported for seam- less pipes at -10%. Much higher production cutbacks were reported for welded pipes >16”, with losses of up to 27%. Line pipe projects were postponed or stopped alto- gether, due to the pandemic.
ITAtube Journal 2021 – Special Edition