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Vallourec adapts pipe output to slower orders French tubemaker Vallourec expects to roll 200,000 fewer tonnes of seamless pipe in the first quarter of This is compared to its average quarterly production 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 our capacities and conserve price levels which are still reasonable,” chief executive Pierre Verluca said at Vallourec’s results meeting attended by Steel Business Briefing. The group’s plants making seamless pipe for the construction and automotive sectors, first hit by the economic downturn, have been adapting production for several 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, and the neighbouring plant producing automotive bearings,” chief operating officer Jean-Pierre Michel commented. Plants making pipe under 180mm diameter are the most impacted. Unlike larger diameter pipe destined for the energy sector, small diameter pipe is used more in engineering and more of it passes through distributors, Michel said. Vallourec is also reducing hours worked by 15% by not renewing temporary or fixed-term contracts and by suspending overtime, particularly in the US. If business in the second quarter is as weak as in the first, the company may resort to short-time working, which has already been implemented in a small German plant. In 2008, Vallourec made 2.77m t of seamless pipe, down 2.5% on In Q4, output was 696,300t (-0.7%). SBB More News!

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