Russia’s steel manufacturer Severstal is planning to increase sales of large-diameter pipes (LDP) in 2021 by 100pc to 400,000mt from 200,000mt in 2020 and by 4.4pc as compared to 383,000mt in 2019 as it is expecting a rebound in demand from energy firms, according to media reports citing a company official.
In 2020, the company expects overall demand for LDP to fall by 29pc to 1.4mn mt as compared to the prior year.
Severstal’s LDP sales have declined this year (2020) due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as LDP demand remained under pressure owing to the reduction of investment in new oil and gas projects. The pandemic also affected the company’s projects that had already begun underway.
The company is expecting LDP demand in Russia to increase to 1.6mn mt in 2021 and reach 2.5mn mt in 2022.
To meet the growing demand, the company is planning to resume full production capacity at its Izhora pipe plant next year.