Ukraine's Interpipe retains exports thanks to logistics
MOSCOW. March 1 (Interfax) - Ukraine's Interpipe industrial group, a major exporter of steel pipes and railroad products, retained exports practically at the 2022 level in 2023 thanks to stable logistics, Forbs Ukraine said, citing experts.
It noted that Interpipe is an exporter with a huge sales geography. Its chief clients are located outside Ukraine, as the domestic market is quite narrow. Delivery of products to foreign customers by sea accounts for about 40% of the group's total sales, while deliveries to Europe by road contribute almost another 50%. The main export problems for the company over the past two years have been the closure of the deep-sea ports of Odessa, the associated congestion of land corridors and higher prices of delivery to EU countries.
According to Interpipe Procurement and Logistics Director Alexei Yanovsky, the group was struggling to sell its products abroad by the middle of 2022.
"Then the company began a radical change in supply chains to its key markets: North America, the EU and the Middle East. The route to North America was modified: it was necessary to quickly provide the delivery to Izmail and transshipment at the local port, and then load river barges, bring the products to the Romanian port of Constanta and accomplish another transshipment there," he said.
The company's logistics was rebuilt and stable in 2023. Then, the Ukrainian-Polish border was blocked in November 2023. Prices and time of cargo transit to and from EU member states hiked, and Interpipe lost $1 million over the first month of the blockade.
The company supplies technological products customized for each client, so there are many nuances in such logistics, Yanovsky said. "For example, when delivering wheel sets, each of them needs to be placed on a stop to prevent damage, they also have to be securely packaged from corrosion. We place premium pipes in containers to prevent their damage in port transshipments. The timely delivery of pipes to clients in Europe is yet another challenge. Yet we do it! Just in time!" he said.
Interpipe is a Ukrainian industrial company, a manufacturer of seamless pipes and train wheels. Its products are distributed in more than 80 countries worldwide through a network of sales offices in key markets in the Middle East, North America and Europe.
Interpipe has about 10,000 employees. It paid 4.4 billion hryvni to budgets of all levels in 2023.
The company operates five industrial assets, namely the Interpipe Nizhnedneprovsky Tube Rolling Plant, the Interpipe Novomoskovsky Pipe Plant, the Interpipe Niko Tube, Dnepropetrovsk Vtormet, and the Dneprostal electric steelmaking plant operating under the Interpipe Steel brand.
The ultimate beneficiary of Interpipe Limited is Ukrainian businessman Viktor Pinchuk and his family. Pinchuk is a son-in-law of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma.