The Russian authorities have made a decision to check the key local rebar suppliers regarding possible unfair price agreements, taking into account the significant increase in domestic prices seen this year. According to the data collected by FAS, local rebar prices in Russia have increased by over 50 percent in 2021 as compared to last year’s figures. The producers indicated the solid uptrend in the global market as the main reason for the situation. However, FAS stated that the local prices in Russia have been increasing even in periods when global prices were falling.
As a result, FAS has decided to check the activities of NLMK, Novostal-M, Tulachermet and Industrial Metallurgical Holding in order to see if there is in fact an agreement between the suppliers which is against the local antimonopoly law. FAS will handle the checking of the pricing processes at the mentioned mills and will study the possible reasons for unjustified price increases.
Similar processes are not in progress for the hot rolled coil segment, with Severstal, MMK and NLMK being involved as the key and largest producers.