Ukrainian long products face restrictions in Russian market

Ukrainian long products face restrictions in Russian market

As reported by SteelOrbis last week, in 2002, Moscow imposed an antidumping duty of 21 percent on imports of steel bars imported from Ukraine. The 3 year-duties are set to expire on August 14, 2005. However, many local Russian companies, fearful of losing their competitiveness against cheaper imports, spoke out against letting the duties expire. Upon the petitions of local producers of steel bars, Russia's Economic Development and Trade Ministry (MERT) announced that it would recommend that the government introduce a provisional surtax of 21 percent for a four-month period on imports of steel bars from Ukraine. The Russian Industrial and Energy Ministry also recently joined the ranks of those calling for the continuation of the duties. Statistics indicate that Ukrainian steel bar imports increased 18.8 percent from 2003 to 2004. Moreover, despite an average increase of 57.7 percent in steel bar prices in international markets with respect to 2003, prices of Ukrainian steel bars increased only 5.6 percent. This meant that the import prices of Ukrainian steel bars remained lower than the prices of domestic steel bars in the Russian market. In addition to the measures on steel bars, on July 7, 2005, Moscow imposed duties on channels imported from Ukraine, effective for three years. It seems Ukrainian origin long products will face significant restrictions in the Russian market for the near future.