Metal Expert had an opportunity to talk about the plant development plans with Luca Zanotti, Interpipe’s CEO, at wire&Tube 2026 in Dusseldorf.
- What is the competitive strength of these assets?
- The deal was closed on 31 March 2026, and now the Roman plant for manufacturing seamless pipes is under our control. This is a very important acquisition for Interpipe with four basic points. The first reason is that it is a perfect fit with our upstream capacity. The company has an unutilized steelmaking capacity in Ukraine, which could be used to feed pipe-rolling operations in Romania with billet.
The second reason is related to the disruption of global trade, requiring more production flexibility. We believe that having multiple geographies provides us more security of being able to supply products and provide different options to meet customer requirements.
Obviously, it is our first step in Europe. There are a lot of talks about Ukraine joining the European Union, so Interpipe has already joined Europe with this first step.
And last but not least, obviously, this represents a fall-back position if we had any problem in Ukraine.
- What’s the vision for the Romanian site development?
- First of all, I should highlight that with this acquisition Interpipe doesn't intend to relocate production from or reduce output in Ukraine in favour of the Romanian site. Our manufacturing footprint in Ukraine – where, alongside our pipe production assets, we operate a technologically advanced railway products complex – is the cornerstone of our industrial strategy and would be extraordinarily costly to replicate.
Interpipe Roman was equipped with three seamless rolling pipe mills. In recent years, the site has been operating only one line. Our business plan is to revive operations at that level.
Unfortunately, we took over the operations on April 1st without a billet stock. It took a while to deliver billet, and we recommenced operations at the 16" plug mill on April 14. At the beginning, we're going to be focused on ramping up steel supply, rolling and finishing depending on the market demand.
- How do you plan to approach the production revival process?
- We have a rational investment plan, based on the information gathered during the due diligence. First, there is a need to observe the operational process, product quality and customer response and then move to more precise planning. As a medium-size company, we have to be cautious of what we do and proceed very carefully. We need to look into the details of manufacturing assets.
Now, the good news is that the 16" plug mill in Roman is a twin of one of the mills in Ukraine. We have expertise in the way to run this facility because it is the same mill and the same technology.
The difference is that the plug mill at the Ukrainian site is designed to roll up to 13 3/8”, while with the new assets, we’re expanding our product offer with line pipes up to 16”. That’s another advantage.
We hope to integrate the expertise of the Romanian personnel, who have been working at the plant for years. I believe in creating an exchange between our Ukrainian and Romanian capabilities.
- Does your investment plan rely on either optimisation or new equipment installation?
- The idea is to upgrade to the best available practices in our manufacturing footprint. As I said before we already see some improvement points, which will bring value in quite a short period of time. At this early stage of the plant ownership, we are focused on optimising the existing facilities.
As it takes time to start looking into the specifics of the Roman facilities and their operations, there are no special talks with the engineering companies yet.
- What is your plan for pipe billet supply for the Romanian site?
- Now the billet is partially delivered from our basic Interpipe Steel plant and partially outsourced but we are already investing in our steel shop in Dnipro to be able to supply 100% of steel requirements from our steel meltshop. Meanwhile, if there is a possibility to cooperate in terms of the supply of semi-finished product, we’ll consider the options.