The completion of comprehensive reconstruction work at MMK’s hot-rolling mill 2500 in 2020 has opened up new opportunities for Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) to strengthen its position in the steel products market for pipe production.

Alexey Kuzmin, Head of MMK's Domestic Sales Department, spoke about this at the 11th All-Russia "Steel Pipes: Production and Regional Sales" conference, which opened in Yekaterinburg on 20 May. He reported that pipes account for 31% of MMK's deliveries to the Russian market, which traditionally is MMK’s key market, regardless of the situation on the world markets. About 70% of MMK's total sales to the pipe industry come from its "home regions" - the Urals, Siberia and the Volga region.

At the same time, MMK continues to strengthen its market position and increase customer satisfaction. In July 2020, the comprehensive reconstruction of hot-rolling mill 2500 was completed, opening up new opportunities for MMK. In particular, the commissioning of the completely renovated mill makes it possible to:

- Increase the uniformity of mechanical properties along the entire length of the coil;

- Expand the steel grade range (steel for tubes of strength classes Ê34-Ê60 to Õ80 in compliance with API 5L);

- Ensure production of rolled products with a thickness from 1.5 mm or more;

- Increase coil weight up to 40 tonnes;

- Provide high quality unreeling of coils;

- Ship hot-rolled coils horizontally to minimise the occurrence of logistic defects.

The mill’s new capabilities are being used to develop niche products and expand the plant’s range of products. Over the past year, the production of a wide range of new products in various grades and dimensions was introduced at mill 2500, as well as at mill 2000, which also produces rolled products for the pipe industry.

To achieve greater customer satisfaction, MMK has recently been actively developing the transportation of rolled steel coils in specialised open and closed containers. This type of rolling stock provides additional protection for steel products from mechanical impact and damage during transportation and handling operations, and, in the case of closed containers, also from atmospheric precipitation.

In addition, MMK is successfully implementing the strategic initiative "Sales. Just-in-time", aimed at ensuring delivery of products to the customer within +/- 3 days of the planned date. As part of this initiative, MMK has put into commercial operation an automated system for production scheduling. A comprehensive OTIF (on time in full) indicator has been introduced to assess the effectiveness of the system. The maximum current value of this indicator was reached in April 2021 and amounted to 74% (with the target level for the current year being 70%).

It should also be noted that through engagment with various co-operators in the regions of MMK's presence, MMK is expanding the range of pipe products in its own sales network, MMK Trading House. Profiled and round pipes are sold from warehouses in the Urals, Volga and Central Federal Districts, with plans to develop this area of sales in warehouses in the Siberian and Southern Federal Districts. The current goal is to reach a sales volume of 10,000 tonnes of welded pipes per month from MMK's warehouses.

The 11th All-Russian “Steel Pipe: Production and Regional Sales” conference took place on 20-21 May 2021 in Ekaterinburg and at the site of the Sinarsky Pipe Works in Kamensk-Uralsky. The event is organised by the Metal Supply and Sales magazine with the support of TMK, the Russian Union of Metal and Steel Suppliers and Metal-Expo. The key topics of the conference are production and consumption of steel welded and seamless pipes in Russia, CIS and worldwide; current trends in regional steel pipe markets; forecasts of steel pipe market development in the coming years, etc. The event is attended by over 100 pipe market experts, managers and specialists of pipe industry companies, metallurgical enterprises, steel trading companies and equipment suppliers.