Nikopol Stainless Tube spends $100m in plant improvements
[ 2007-06-27 ]
Ukraine’s Nikopol Stainless Tube Mill (NSTM) is spending up to $100m (€74m) in modernisation work, which it aims to complete by May 2008. This includes building a new hot-extrusion line for seamless tube, and a new streamlined production line for cold-drawn tube, including a batch annealing furnace, straightener, polishing line and U-bending unit, the company tells Steel Business Briefing.
The hot extrusion line is mostly for tube up to 10in (25mm) diameter, says NSTM’s spokesman. The other investment for cold-drawn tube up to 38mm dia is aimed mainly at improving sales to NSTM’s core market of heat-exchanger tubing. “We’re basically renewing half the plant, covering all diameters,” he explains.
Currently, NSTM makes hot-extruded tube of 57-168mm OD and 4-18mm wall thickness, and cold-drawn tube of 5-114mm OD and 0.2-12mm wall thickness.
The company’s output grew to 16,200 tonnes last year from 14,200t in 2005. “We don’t see any significant increase in sales for 2007 as this will be a year of investments,” the spokesman says. He adds that NSTM is number five in a niche seamless stainless tube market estimated at about 320,000t globally last year.
The world market grew 10% in 2006, after a 3.8% rise in demand from the chemicals and petrochemicals sectors, a 10% rise from the energy generation, machinery and equipment sectors, and growth in oil and gas, says NSTM. In future, the largest growth is expected in Asia and the Middle East, followed by Europe.
The company is soon to announce the completion of a restructuring programme to introduce a single global brand. This will bring its Ukrainian production (NSTM), international trading operations – such as UAS (Ukrainian & Allied Stainless) based in Switzerland – financial operations, and the current holding company, UVIS, under one new umbrella company, SBB understands.
