The Russian government has canceled the import duty on special types of needle coke, a premium grade, high value petroleum coke, used in the manufacturing of graphite electrodes for arc furnaces in the steel industry. Meanwhile, an import duty on graphite electrodes has been imposed at the level of five percent. The decision No. 371 dated April 30, 2009 becomes effective two months after its official publication.
In addition, by the decision in question, two new subheadings have been introduced in the HS Code - for pitch needle coke and calcined (petroleum) needle coke.