Vallourec Niko Tube has reached the annual planned capacity of 120 thousand tons of pipes

Niko Tube will annually produce up to 120 thousand tons of pipes for the EU, the U.S. and the Middle East markets

The press center of the Interpipe Group told GMK Center that Vallourec Niko Tube, a French-Ukrainian joint venture that produces seamless steel pipes for the EU market, has reached the annual planned capacity of 120 thousand tons of pipes.

The annual production volume includes 95 thousand tons of the annual quota for the supply of seamless pipes to the European Union and 25 thousand tons of other pipes designed for other markets, “mainly the United States and the Middle East countries,” as detailed by a company’s representative.

“The joint venture with Vallourec will allow Interpipe to increase production, improve the quality of products and services, and strengthen its position in the EU market. Furthermore, we will get additional technical expertise from one of the world’s largest producers of pipes,” said Denys Morozov, Interpipe Economic and Finance Director.

To date, the monthly capacity of Vallourec Niko Tube is 8–9 thousand tons of pipes.

A joint venture between Ukrainian Interpipe and French Vallourec has already invested around €5.5 million in the launch of two up-to-date pipe lines. The Ukrainian company has further invested €1.4 million in the launch of the second pipe line.

According to the press service of Interpipe, the pipe project was initially designed for the annual capacity of 170 thousand tons of pipes, though the company had to change its plans because of the EU’s tough quota policy.

Vallourec Niko Tube is a joint venture between French Vallourec, the world’s leader in production of premium tubular goods, and Ukrainian Interpipe. The establishment of the joint venture was announced in April 2018 to produce seamless pipes for the EU market.

Production facilities of Vallourec Niko Tube are located in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk oblast. These are two lines in the pipe rolling shops No. 2 and No. 7 of Interpipe Niko Tube. The product portfolio of the joint venture includes line pipes, general-use pipes and pipes for mechanical engineering.

Interpipe produces and ships products to customers, while Vallourec controls their quality before shipment, negotiates with customers, and handles sales.

Interpipe produces rolled pipes at Interpipe Niko Tube (Nikopol) and Interpipe NTRP (Dnipro). After that, Interpipe-made pipes undergo finishing and quality control at the finishing lines of the joint venture. Its products are imported to the EU markets under the Vallourec brand. In November 2018, the joint venture produced its first pipes and shipped its first order.

The company’s Managing Director is Michael Diekenbrock, its Production Director is Yevhen Dmytrenko. The production staff includes 122 workers. Some of them worked as trainees at Vallourec’s German plants in Düsseldorf and Mülheim.

Interpipe is a Ukrainian industrial company that produces steel pipes and railway wheels. Its products are supplied to more than 80 countries around the world through a network of sales offices, located in key markets of the CIS, the Middle East, North America and Europe. In 2018, Interpipe increased sales by 12%, up to 857 thousand tons, and produced 189 thousand tons of railway products under the KLW brand.

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