Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has called on regulators to come up by August 1 this year with proposals for the development of a national exchange for trade in a range of steel products as well as coal, coking coal and iron ore, to avert increases in steel prices, the Russian newspaper Vedomosti has reported.
Accordingly, the national metals exchange trade will have to supplement long-term contracts between the parties and be a reference for steel, coal and iron ore market prices. A source also told the newspaper that the plans were already being "seriously studied."
As SteelOrbis previously reported, on April 2 this year, the St. Petersburg international raw material and commodity exchange held the first Russian coking coal concentrate auction, at which Mechel and Raspadskaya Coal Company sold a total of 33,672 mt, which is a very small amount compared to the 42.8 million mt consumed in 2009.
In addition, Mr. Putin has also called on the regulators to work out model long-term agreements for raw material and steel product buyers that would take into account market prices and would distribute risk.
The recent hike in domestic steel prices has caused concern within the highest quarters of the Russian government.