On Thursday, December 30, 2010, Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement on the quota of 300,000 mt for duty-free imports of certain types of steel pipes from Ukraine into Russia in 2011.
The agreement initially dating from 2005 on the regulation of supply of certain types of steel pipes from Ukraine to Russia has accordingly been extended up to December 31, 2011.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, on December 29, 2005, the government of the Russian Federation imposed a five-year antidumping (AD) duty on imports of pipes from Ukraine. However, within the framework of a special agreement, five Ukrainian companies, which are all currently subsidiaries of Interpipe, received the right to duty-free imports up to a certain quota. The quota for 2005 was set at 395,000 mt, with a two percent increment annually through December 31, 2009, the date when the agreement ended. In late April 2010, the agreement was prolonged, with the quota on duty-free imports of Ukrainian steel pipes to Russia set at 260,000 mt.