Review over 2008 Period of and Prospects for 2009 Period of Domestic Weld Pipe Industry

A review is made to the operation situation of the domestic weld pipe industry in 2008.It shows:the capacity increase rate is significantly reduced;the annual output equals to that of 2007;the export volume is tremendously cut down against that of 2007 with the annual export volume reduced by 0.83 million tons or 18%;yet the export volume of oil/gas linepipes and casings is dramatically increased(accounting for 70% of the total volume of weld pipes for export),being the primary category of weld pipes as exported;the supply surplus situation becomes worse than before,while ordinary weld pipe production experiences a hard time;only the oil pipe production runs very well with considerable development in structural adjustment.The development orientation and hot spots of the industry in 2009 are forecast with expectation that weld pipe sales be generally going up with a rather low starting point;natural gas pipeline construction be one of the hot spots;world market competition become more intense;weld pipe exportation be more difficult;more efforts be made in technical upgrade of the makers;and the pre-finish welding of spiral SAW pipe be one of the technical hot spots.