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Antidumping Probe Will Follow
The duties on stainless steel import will go up by 35 percent to 40 percent early in 2008 and extend to China, Deputy Industry and Energy Minister Andrei Dementiev announced yesterday. The analysts say Mechel will benefit from closing this market with the annual capacity of 15,000 tons of rolled metal, while Russia’s traders of China’s product will be the obvious losers.
Dementiev announced the impending shut-down of stainless steel market when commenting on the metallurgy meeting held at Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov. Russia, Dementiev said, will probably hike the import duties on rolled stainless steel from today’s ˆ840 per a ton to between ˆ1,200 and ˆ1,300 per a ton, extending them to China, which enjoys the duty-free benefits so far.
The import duties on this steel were imposed on the EU suppliers in March 20, 2007. People in the RF Economic Development and Trade Ministry claimed yesterday they had no information about the government’s intention to raise the duties. “Russia’s producers may initiate the antidumping investigation. If the dumping is proved, the duties will be imposed in 2008,” they said.
Severstal will apply for the antidumping investigation in January, Dementiev told ITAR-TASS. But Severstal refused to comment officially and made clear of the record that it wasn't particularly interested in this kind of steel.
Mechel didn’t comment either. The analysts speculate that exactly this company has probably set the process into motion. The quality of imported steel is higher than of Russia’s one and Mechel may attempt to attract the government in an effort to keep the market.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 25, 2007
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