Aleksey Mordashov, CEO of Russian steelmaker Severstal, has stated that he is still hesitant about increasing the participation of the company in the EU market.
Mr. Mordashov said that, in order not to incur the risk of a dumping investigation, they would still need to be very careful not to increase the quantity of steel exported to the EU market even after the abolition of the export quotas implemented by the EU by the beginning of September this year, following the entry of Russia to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December last year.
Russia is expected to become a fully-fledged WTO member from September this year onwards after completion of the necessary procedures. A recourse to WTO antidumping procedures is widely expected to benefit the Russian iron and steel industry. It is estimated that the Russian industry could benefit by up to $2 billion a year.