TMK says pipe sales fall by 5% to 727,000 tns in January–March

MOSCOW, Apr 23 (PRIME) -- The sales of pipes of Russian oil and gas pipe producer TMK shrank by 5% on the year and 7% on the quarter to 727,000 tonnes in January–March because of lower sales of seamless pipelines, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

Welded pipe sales rose 8% to 222,000 tonnes, while seamless pipe sales fell 10% to 505,000 tonnes.

The company does not expect the situation to improve in April–June, it said in the statement, "Although the Russian market of oil and gas pipes has traditionally demonstrated relative stability against the oil price decrease, we do not expect that the situation will change for the better in the second quarter of this year."

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