North American pipe manufacturers IPSCO, Northwest Pipe and NS Group all reported record sales for the second quarter of 2005. What follows are summaries of their performance, along with those of a couple of other public PVF companies.
IPSCO's enhanced sales performance was driven by higher pricing in all product lines and strong energy tubular shipments, partially offset by volume reductions in the steel mill product and large diameter pipe product lines. IPSCO's second quarter average pricing was $830 per ton, inclusive of surcharge, compared to $620 per ton a year ago. Second quarter shipments were 803,000 tons, down 9% or 81,000 tons from the second quarter of 2004.