The Russian Federation's Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT) has initiated on September 4 a special protective reinvestigation of imports of large diameter (LD) pipes of more than 508 mm outside diameter, regardless of the country of origin.
The reinvestigation has been started in accordance with federal law No.165-FZ entitled "On special protective, anti-dumping and countervailing measures on import of goods," dated December 2003, and following the request of the main domestic pipe producers, Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (ChTPZ), OMK's Vyksa Steel Works and TMK's Volzhsky Pipe Plant, which together hold about an 85 percent share of the domestic LD pipe market.
The reinvestigation affects LD pipes under the following HS Codes: 7304 11 900 2, 7304 11 900 9, 7304 19 900 2, 7304 19 900 9, 7304 31 800 0, 7304 39 990 0, 7304 59 990 0, 7305 11 000 1, 7305 11 000 2, 7305 11 000 3, 7305 11 000 8, 7305 12 000 1, 7305 12 000 9, 7305 19 000 0, 7305 31 000 0, 7305 39 000 0 and 7305 90 000 0.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, as a result of a special protective investigation, on December 21, 2006, Russia imposed an eight percent special duty on imports of LD pipes effective until December 21, 2009, which does not affect imports from developing countries which come under the scope of Russia's Generalized System of Preference. In May 2009, Russia added China to the list in question.
According to the MEDT's report, in 2006-2008 period imports of LD pipes to Russia decreased by 8.3 times, while in the first five months of 2009 imports of the products in question went down by 13.4 percent year on year. In particular, in January-May this year imports from Ukraine decreased from 14,400 mt to 3,000 mt year on year, imports from China (including Taiwan) went down from 27,100 mt to 100 mt, while imports from the EU and Japan increased to 4,900 mt and 35,000 mt respectively.
On the other hand, during the 2006-2008 period import prices for LD pipes increased by 35.8 percent, including import duty and custom clearance, and excluding VAT. In January-May 2009 the average import price decreased by 8.3 percent year on year.
In addition, the MEDT noticed that in 2006-2008 the consumption of LD pipes in the Russian domestic market decreased by 29.8 percent, while in January-May this year there was a 23.3 percent decrease year on year. The main Russian LD pipe producers in 2006-2008 reduced their output by 22.5 percent, while in the first five months this year their output decreased by 6.1 percent year on year. Meanwhile, total sales of LD pipes of Russian production in 2006-2008 went down by 8.7 percent, while in January-May 2009 sales decreased by 24.5 percent year on year.