Russia’s government’s commission for foreign trade protection prolonged yesterday the zero duty on the cement import till October of 2009.
Photo: Vasily Shaposhnikov
| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
The Zero Draw
Russia’s government’s commission for foreign trade protection prolonged yesterday the zero duty on cement import till October of 2009. The commission ingnored the 20-percent duty request of the Union of Cement Manufacturers but abandoned the idea of permanent cancelation of duty.
Chaired by First Vice Premier Viktor Zubkov, the government’s commission for foreign trade protection, customs and tariff policy ruled yesterday to extend the zero duty on the cement import for another year, till October 25, 2009. The recommendation of the working team that was deliberated on during the meeting was to cancel the duty for ever. The aim of the zero duty was to bring down cement prices in the country and fill local market with cement, members of the working team explained earlier.
Before the meeting, Zubkov and certain members of the commission thoroughly studied the address of the Union of Cement Manufactures proposing to impose the import duty of 20 percent.
The commission will again focus on the cement duty in a year. The year’s duration of zero duty instead of the timeless one was the idea of the Regional Development Ministry that enjoyed the support of Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) Chief Igor Artemiev, said Anna Mirochinenko, who is the deputy head of international economic cooperation at FAS and a member of the working team.
“The plans are to build new cement facilities during a year. Local producers will be able to meet the country’s demands better than today and we won’t need so much imported cement,” Mirochinenko explained, adding that the address of cement manufacturers weren’t discussed during the meeting. Indeed, according to the experts, even with the 20-percent decline in the cement prices due to the import inflow, the efficiency of Russia’s producers of cement equals 100 percent.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 21, 2008
|
|
|
