During the meeting Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held with representatives of the Russian steel sector on July 24, he confirmed his government's intention to increase the export duty on scrap and also to cancel the import duty on this raw material.
However, the rate of the possible increase in the scrap export duty was not specified. According to media speculation, the rate of increase could be as high as eight-fold. Currently, there is a €15/mt duty effective on scrap exports from Russia. At the same time, Russia has a five percent import duty on scrap.
In addition, the problem of raw material sufficiency of the Russian domestic steelmakers was also discussed during the meeting. In particular, Mr. Putin strongly criticized the Russian mining and steel producing company Mechel for its sales of coking coal for export at lower than the market price level in the first quarter, and asked the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Services (FAS) to investigate the situation.
Moreover, Mr. Putin supported the decision of several domestic market players to switch to long-term contracts for both deliveries of raw materials and also for sales of finished steel products.