The Ukrainian Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade has initiated an antidumping (AD) investigation on imports to Ukraine of ferroalloys regardless of the country of origin and export, the Ukrainian News agency reported.
The investigation was started upon the request of the Association of Ukrainian Ferroalloy Producers (UkrFA) and of domestic ferroalloy producers, including Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant (NZF), Zaporizhia Ferroalloy Plant (ZFP) and Stakhanov Ferroalloy Plant (SFP). According to their statement, in Q3 2009 compared to Q3 2008, against the background of a 59 percent decrease in the country's ferroalloys output, its ferroalloy imports increased by 219 percent, while the price for the products in question went down by 38 percent.
The products subjected to the investigation are ferromanganese with a carbon content of more than two percent (excluding ferromanganese granules of more than 5 mm and with manganese content of more than 65 percent) and ferrosilicomanganese.
In 2009, Ukraine's ferroalloy imports increased by 5.4 times year on year to 103,350 mt, including 58,940 mt of ferrosilicomanganese - up 4.3 times, 35,600 mt of ferromanganese - up 11.6 times, and 8,610 mt of ferrosilicon - up 4.1 times, all compared to 2008. Ukraine imports ferroalloys mainly from Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia and China.
The country's 2009 ferroalloys output decreased by 25.2 percent year on year to 1.036 million mt.