Page 14 - ITA Journal 3-2018

EUR/US$ Chart – 3 Years EURO/YUAN Chart – 3 Years
EUR/ROUBLE Chart – 3 Years EURO/SAR Chart – 3 Years
VOSCO Management Consultancy
Dr. Gunther Voswinckel
Scharnhorststrasse 45 41063 Mönchengladbach Germany
Tel.: +49 2161 309 255 drgunthervoswinckel@vosco.de
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Market information
Fig.14: Currency exchange rates vs euro as per October 3, 2018 Source: Finance.net
costs. Producers seem to have evaluated their market approach and decided to serve commodities or high-tech products even if they only represent niches. Some coun- tries/regions have also installed trade barriers to control imports from other countries.
Finally, every producer must seek to make permanent improvements to increase productivity and reduce production costs. Technol- ogy suppliers may nd interesting business opportunities in this eld.
Fig. 15: Currency exchange rates vs euro as per October 3, 2018 Source: Finance.net
As indicated by these latest gures, US tube and pipe produc- ers in particular have greatly prof- ited from business trends on the oil markets. Increased pumping and exploration activities are the primary driving forces of the mar- ket’s recovery in the US. If we are to believe the US experts, this trend will continue throughout 2019. To a lesser degree, Euro- pean tube and pipe producers were also able to pro t from these developments.
What measures are pipe produc- ers and plant equipment suppliers taking to overcome current dif - culties and to generate sustaina- ble business?
Over-capacity is leading to consol- idation in the steel tube industry. Several pipe producing companies
are still looking into overcoming such capacity problems by closing production facilities with a ques- tionable economic future.
Still, despite the remarkable boom in the US, globalization into markets with increased demand remains one of the key answers. The Middle East and locations with major oil and gas exploration or prospering automotive production and building construction indus- tries are to be considered. Besides this, shale gas exploration, deep- sea offshore exploration and oil sand exploration remain major challenges for our industry.
Price competition from China and elsewhere demands further specialization in high-tech prod- ucts. This applies in particular to regions with high production
ITAtube Journal No3/October 2018