OREANDA-NEWS. September 21, 2010. Duncan Pell, Commercial Director of Interpipe, spoke at the Metal Bulletin 13th Central & Eastern European Steel Conference held on 13-14 September in Prague, Czech Republic. The Conference addressed issues affecting the regional steel industry at present reinforcing the dialogue between leading steel producers, purchasers and manufacturers. The Conference also looked at the post-recessionary outlook and examined solutions to the challenges currently facing the global steel industry.

Duncan Pell gave a presentation on “Evolving Mill Strategies in a Challenging Industry Landscape”, covering the issues of current pipe market conditions, an overview of capacities and key directions for producers in the Central and Eastern European region.

Commenting on the topic, Duncan Pell said: “The recent crisis and the present business environment should encourage producers in this region to seek to become highly differentiated at low cost. Investment will continue to be needed but in efficiency and quality related improvements with fast payback. The priority for producers in Central and Eastern Europe should be to raise the level of technical and workforce competence so that theoretical cost advantages are not wasted through inefficiency and poor quality. I am very pleased that at Interpipe we are investing and maintaining a strong cost position, reducing costs and implementing quality improvement in our projects”.