The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Russian Federation (MEDT) proposed to impose a special duty in the amount of 8 percent on imports of pipes with large diameter.
According to the MEDT release, the Ministry completed the antidumping investigation on the imports of subject merchandise to Russian Federation, which was initiated on February 3, 2005 upon the complaint filed by non-commercial organization Fund of Development of
Pipe Industry on the request of Volzjsk
Pipe Plant, Viksunskiy
Pipe Plant and Cheliabinks
Pipe Plant. The products, subject to the investigation include steel electro-welded pipes with diameter of more than 508 mm, double-seam pipes, spiral-seam pipes, seamless pipes with diameter of more than 508 mm. The review covered the period January 1, 2001, through December 31, 2004.
As a result of the antidumping investigation, the MEDT determined that the imports of pipes with large diameter cause significant damages to Russian economy. In particular, imports of pipes with large diameter during the period under the investigation rose 88.1 percent, which led to ousting of the Russian producers from the domestic market. While the
consumption of the pipes with large diameters rose 34.5 percent from 2001 to 2004, the volumes of
production and realization of Russian origin pipes in the domestic market decreased 28 percent and 13.2 percent respectively. The share of the domestic market by Russian producers decreased 11.4 percent during the period of 2001-2004. The price for Russian origin pipes with large diameter rose 99.2 percent during the period covered by investigation, whereas the price for imported pipes decreased 11.5 percent. The load of
production capacities at the Russian plants decreased from 42.6 percent in 2003 to 37.8 percent in 2004, while the profitability fell 5.4 percentage points from 2001 to 2004 and profits decreased 19.3 percent.
On the bases of the findings of the investigation, the MEDT proposed to impose 8 percent special duty on imports of pipes with large diameter clarified under the following Russian HS codes: 7304 10 900 2, 7304 10 900 9, 7304 31 990 0, 7304 39 990 0, 7304 59 990 0, 7305 11 000 1, 7305 11 000 2, 7305 11 000 3, 7305 11 000 9, 7305 12 000 1, 7305 12 000 9, 7305 19 000 0, 7305 31 000 0, 7305 39 000 0, 7305 90 000 0, with exception for imports from developing countries, which use the national preferential system of Russian Federation.
The above mentioned measures are believed to decrease already received damages to the Russian economy and increase competitiveness of Russian
pipe producers.