Tubac continues to be an industry leader in welded pipe production in Central America. Its ever-expanding product line includes tubes, pipes, fencing, electrical conduits, both black and galvanized and profiles, according to local standards as well as many global standards, including ASTM, BS, JIS and now API. Tubac also serves the Central American market with products that go beyond traditional pipe mill products. Building on decades of its success and long-standing reputation as a service and quality-oriented supplier of pipes, today Tubac has expanded its offerings to include specialized fabricated pipes (Victaulic, slotted, custom length) and all types of structural steel materials, such as beams, plates, sheets, roofing sheets, flats, angles and channels.

Despite a difficult economic environment, because of its long-standing reputation as a leading local supplier of steel products to Central America, Tubac has once again produced results that surpass many of its competitors and contemporaries in the Latin American market. Although no major investments were taken up this year, some of the investments of the previous year have come to fruition. Specifically, Tubac is now approved by API (the American Petroleum Institute) to produce API 5L welded line pipe with their own unique API license no.

The 2014 results have improved on the 2013 results. We have seen an increase of nearly 20% volume yearon- year. We expect that a newly forged free trade agreement with Honduras, along with other existing and potential agreements in the coming year within the region, will promote sales volumes. The recently installed pipe fabrication equipment and newly acquired API license will also help us to tap into new and higher margin product lines.

As we look to the future, Tubac will continue its focus on being a low-cost producer of high-quality products, with an emphasis on delivering customer service and solutions to its customer base. This focus, along with the support of the Duferco Group, has been and should continue to be the basis of its success in what is and will continue to be a market with many competitors and challenges.