As of April 1, 2010, Russia has stopped duty free imports of Ukrainian pipes in the absence of agreed quotas for supplies not subject to antidumping duty payment, Russia's Federal Customs Service has announced.
In accordance with agreements signed between Russia's Ministry of Economic Development and Ukraine's Ministry of Economy, the duty free import quota this year was determined up to March 31. For the first quarter of 2010, Ukraine's quota for pipe exports to Russia stood at 55,000 mt.
"In the absence of agreement by both parties on the quota size for the supply of pipes from Ukraine after March 31, as of April 1, 2010 the decision of the Russian Federation providing for levying of antidumping duties on imports of Ukrainian pipes should be adhered to at the customs clearance of Ukrainian production pipes," reads the Federal Customs Service's statement.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, by the Russian government decision dated December 29, 2005, Russia imposed for a five-year period an 11.4 percent AD duty on Ukrainian imports of casing and an 8.9 percent AD duty on imports of oil and gas and general purpose hot-deformed pipes from Ukraine with diameter up to 820 mm.
However, within the framework of a special agreement signed between the countries on January 13, 2005, five Ukrainian companies, which are all currently subsidiaries of Interpipe, received the right to duty free imports of certain types of steel pipes 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.