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Vallourec adapts pipe output to slower ordersFrench tubemaker Vallourec expects to roll 200,000 fewer tonnes of seamlesspipe in the first quarter of 2009. This is compared to its average quarterlyproduction of 690,000t in 2008 and amounts to a 30% reduction.It is reacting rapidly to a sharp decline in orders. “We prefer to adjust ourcapacities and conserve price levels which are still reasonable,” chief executivePierre Verluca said at Vallourec’s results meeting attended by Steel BusinessBriefing.The group’s plants making seamless pipe for the construction and automotivesectors, first hit by the economic downturn, have been adapting production forseveral months already. But not all its plants are affected to the same extent.“There is a big difference between the plant producing steam generator [pipe]for nuclear power plants, which is loaded up with work virtually until 2012, andthe neighbouring plant producing automotive bearings,” chief operating officerJean-Pierre Michel commented.Plants making pipe under 180mm diameter are the most impacted. Unlike largerdiameter pipe destined for the energy sector, small diameter pipe is used morein engineering and more of it passes through distributors, Michel said.Vallourec is also reducing hours worked by 15% by not renewing temporary orfixed-term contracts and by suspending overtime, particularly in the US. Ifbusiness in the second quarter is as weak as in the first, the company may resortto short-time working, which has already been implemented in a small Germanplant.In 2008, Vallourec made 2.77m t of seamless pipe, down 2.5% on 2007. In Q4,output was 696,300t (-0.7%).SBB 17.3.2009

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Vallourec Invests €80m to meet nuclear sector’s needsSeamless steel tube maker Vallourec is to invest a total of €80m(US$104m) at three mills to meet the nuclear power industry’s growingneeds. The annual production capacity of stainless steel and nickel alloytubes at Valinox Nucleaire subsidiary’s Montbard plant in Cote d’Or,France, will be increased to 4,500km in 2011. Current capacity is 1,800km.The French group’s Valtimet subsidiary will double output capacity ofwelded titanium and stainless steel tubes at Venarey-les-Laumes, Coted’Or, France, and Brunswick, in Georgia, US.CRU Steel 17.3.2009

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