Three Russian steel producers, namely, Severstal, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) and Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), have called on the Russian government to initiate an antidumping investigation into imports of pre-painted coils, the Russian newspaper Kommersant has reported.
Accordingly, the Russian steelmakers are concerned about the sharp increase in the volume of pre-painted coil imports from Asia, and mainly from China. According to the data for the first six months of this year, imports of these products to Russia increased by 834 percent (deliveries from Russian companies went up by 66 percent), accounting for a 62 percent share of domestic consumption.
According to the Russian steelmakers, the Chinese suppliers are causing a slowdown in the increase of prices in the Russian domestic market, as they are selling their products 10-35 percent cheaper than the Russian producers. The steelmakers say that in the first six months of this year pre-painted coil prices increased by only seven percent, while production costs rose by nine percent, Kommersant noted.
The Russian Industry and Trade Ministry previously conducted an antidumping investigation into imports in 2008-2009 of pre-painted steel products originating from China (including Taiwan and the special administrative districts of Hong Kong and Macau), South Korea, Belgium, Finland and Kazakhstan; however it decided against imposing anti-dumping duties on these products.