Ilyich complains against Russian HR, CR imports

The Ukrainian flat rolled producer Ilyich Iron and Steel Works of Mariupol (Ilyich) is looking into the possibility of initiating a special investigation against imports of HR and CR products from Russia. According to Ilyich's representative Mr. Sergey Kovalenko, during the January-September 2006 period, HR imports rose by 60 percent, CR imports increased by 75 percent and galvanized steel imports increased by 89 percent year on year. The Russian imports accounted for 95 percent of overall Ukrainian flat rolled imports during the period in question. Mr. Kovalenko pointed out that Ilyich had no complaints regarding the rise in galvanized steel imports, since the plant could not satisfy the Ukrainian demand for the product. However, the growing HR and CR imports are considered to be unreasonable at the plant, since the same products are produced by the Ukrainian domestic mills. Mr. Kovalenko further added that Ilyich was not planning to initiate an investigation at the current moment, but would wait until Russia finishes its anti-dumping investigation against the Ukrainian CR imports, which began in June 2006.