Interfax reported that The ChTPZ Group saw pipe shipments plummet 34%YoY in January to September to 825,800 tonnes, the group which specializes in oil and gas piping.

The Group Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant sold 434,000 tonnes of pipe, including 266,100 tonnes of large diameter pipes and its Pervouralsk Novotrubny Pipe Works from the Sverdlovsk region sold 391,800 tonnes.

The group said pipe sales fell primarily due to shrinking domestic demand domestic pipe consumption fell 28%YoY in January to September. However combined shipments by the two pipe mills rose 10% in Q3 2009 compared with Q2 2009 including growth of 18% for seamless hot rolled pipes which PNTZ exported and 19% for large diameter pipes which ChTPZ sold to Gazprom and Transneft.

(Sourced from Interfax)