Interpipe Group

Interpipe Group, or simply Interpipe, is a Ukrainian industrial company, a global producer of steel pipes and railway wheels. Interpipe headquarters and production facilities are located in Nikopol, Ukraine. The network of sales offices covers the key markets of Ukraine, CIS, Middle East, North America, and Europe.^[2]

Interpipe Research, Industries & Investment Group

Native name	Група «Інтерпайп»
Romanized name	Hrupa "Interpayp"
Company type	Corporation/Holding company
Industry	Metallurgy, Carbon Steel Pipes production, Train wheel production, Axle production, Wheelset assembly, Steel billets production
Founded	1990
Founder	Viktor Pinchuk
Headquarters	Dnipro, Nikopol , Ukraine
Area served	International (invests in industries of different countries)
Key people	Viktor Pinchuk, Gennady Gazin[1]
Products	Steel pipe, Railway wheel, Tyre, Axle, Wheelset, Steel billet
Services	Asset management, investment, trading and consulting
Owner	Viktor Pinchuk

Interpipe is a globally important player in carbon steel pipes (hence the name), hollow structural sections, train wheels and steel billets markets.^[3]

In 2020, Interpipe sold 469,900 tons of pipes and 192,400 tons of railway products. In-house steel production amounted to 759,000 tons.^[4]

11 000 employees work at Interpipe.

History

In 1932 the factory began producing drilling pipes, and by 1933, it employed 7,020 workers and 420 engineers.^[5][6]

It was destroyed during World War II. The factory's reconstruction began in 1943, and production was entirely resumed by 1948.^[7] The plant operated under the name Karl Liebknecht until the collapse of the USSR and Ukraine's subsequent independence.

In 1990 the Interpipe group was founded and the factory became a key asset of the company.^[8]

In 2012, Interpipe launched the steel factory with a production capacity of 1.32 million tons per year. The mill was equipped with an electric furnace for generating steel from scrap metal produced from the waste of pipe and rail wheel production. The construction took 5 years and cost $700 million.^[9]

Interpipe began supplying steel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) market in the early 2000s with up to 16% of global sales coming from this region. In early 2016, the company registered its trademark in the UAE.^[10]

Also in 2016, Interpipe completed a $16.2 million upgrade to facilities in Dnipro with a focus on increased railway related products and production.^[11]

In mid-2016 the company announced plans to expand its business presence in Qatar.^[12]

Awarded a long-term contract in 2016,^[13] in 2017, Interpipe delivered an initial order of 3,000 wheels to the Saudi Railways Organization (SRO).^[14]

In 2017, in an effort to combat counterfeiting of steel products, Interpipe introduced an online verification service that customer may utilize to authenticate their steel products.^[15]

Also in 2018, Interpipe started the pilot operation of a new line for pipe finishing at Interpipe Niko Tube in Nikopol (the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast of Ukraine). The company invested approximately $8 million into the line construction.^[16]

In 2022, Interpipe increased production of oil well equipment and railway wheels by 60% compared to the same period in 2021, before the Russo-Ukrainian war had started.^[17]

In November 2023, due to the blockade of the Ukrainian-Polish border crossings, Interpipe lost $1.2 million.^[18]

In 2024, Fitch assigned Interpipe a rating of "CCC-". The main negative factor mentioned by Fitch is the high risk associated with the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, as the company's main assets are located near the front line. As a positive factor, Fitch noted Interpipe's financial performance.^[19]

In 2024, the Swiss company KLW Wheelco delivered a party of 2,000 steel wheels to India manufactured by Interpipe. The wheels were intended for Indian Railways. It was the first shipment from Ukraine to India since the onset of the Russo-Ukrainian war and took place following India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Kyiv.^[20]

Company structure

The Interpipe Group owns the following assets:

• Interpipe NTZ — is located in Dnipro city, Ukraine, and produces pipes for manufacturing and industrial needs, railway wheels, and railway tires.^[21]
• Interpipe Novomoskovskyi Trubnyi Zavod (Interpipe Novomoskovsk Pipe Plant) — is located in Samar (former Novomoskovsk), Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine. The plant produces steel pipes of different diameters for electric welding, components for welding, as well as items for everyday use.^[22]
• Interpipe Vtormet is located in Dnipro city and specializes in processing of scrap metal.^[23]
• Interpipe Niko Tube ^[24][8]

Employees

Interpipe Group employs around 11,000 people. Since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war, close to 10% of employees have been drafted into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.^[25]

Markets

USA

In 2014, the U.S. Department of Commerce and Interpipe signed a price undertaking agreement on pipe products. This agreement resulted from an anti-dumping investigation into Interpipe's activities in the U.S. market and required Ukrainian pipes to be sold at a fixed price.^[26] This agreement was renewed annually but ended in 2019 as it was not extended.^[27]

In July 2021, the U.S. government imposed an anti-dumping duty of 23.75%,^[28] leading Interpipe to announce its exit from the market.^[29]

In 2023, the Ukrainian government reported the removal of all anti-dumping restrictions.^[30]

However, in the summer of 2024, the U.S. government imposed a new anti-dumping duty of 4.99%.^[31] This decision followed an investigation initiated by Vallourec Star, which found that Interpipe had sold approximately 40,000 tons of pipes in the U.S. in 2019 at dumping prices totaling over $40 million.^[32]

EU

Interpipe's presence in European markets was limited by quotas and anti-dumping duties that the EU imposed to protect its domestic markets.^[33] In 2018, the European Commission reduced the anti-dumping duty on Interpipe's pipes from 13.8% to 8.1%.^[34]

That same year, Interpipe and the French company Vallourec announced the establishment of a joint venture for exporting seamless pipes to EU markets.^[35] This agreement was supported by the Antimonopoly Committees of Germany and Ukraine.^[36] However, at the end of 2021, Interpipe and Vallourec terminated the agreement.^[37]

In October 2023, the European Commission announced the end of anti-dumping restrictions on pipe products from Ukraine. In the second quarter of 2023, the company's sales growth to EU countries reached 44% (approximately 46,000 tons).^[38]

In the summer of 2024, Interpipe signed a contract with Greenbrier for the supply of railway wheels. In the first half of the year, Interpipe produced 43.5 tons of wheel products.^[39]

Middle East

In 2007, Interpipe sold $86.4 million worth of products in the Middle Eastern markets, expecting further growth.^[40]

The company opened its headquarters in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, in the same year.^[41] By the 10th anniversary of the office in Dubai, Interpipe had supplied over 1 million tons of products to the region.^[42]

Since late 2013 to early 2014, Interpipe has been actively operating in Iraq. In 2023, the company delivered 850 tons of casing and pump-compressor pipes to the country.^[43][44][45]

In 2017, Interpipe along with Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Commerce and Industry registered a new trademark to take action against fake steel products in Middle Eastern markets. Also, Interpipe joined the Steel Alliance Against Counterfeiting which aimed to protect the Middle East market from сounterfeit and non-certified steel products. The Alliance was created in 2015 and united 18 steel manufacturers with around $20 billion turnover.^[46][47]

In 2023, Interpipe resumed cooperation with Qatar Petroleum, which had been suspended due to the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. Throughout the year, Interpipe shipped over 4,000 tons of products to its partners.^[48][49]