PRESS: Turkey may impose duties on Russian metals imports

MOSCOW, Jan 25 (PRIME) – Turkey is preparing to impose an antidumping duty on Russian steel exports, Kommersant business daily reported Monday.

According to the economy ministry, Russian companies Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK), Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) and Severstal imported 825,000 tonnes of hot-rolled steel to the country in 2015 worth U.S. $413 million. MMK received a dumping margin of 13.66%, NLMK of 9.42% and Severstal of 12.43%. The ministry is very likely to impose similar duties on the companies’ supplies in February 2016, Kommersant reported.

A representative for Severstal told the business daily that the ministry’s preliminary data in August 2015, based on the company’s data, showed no dumping, but the ministry later replaced the company’s costs data with data of other countries. In its report, the ministry said that Russia’s costs data is not rational due to some “nuances” of’ spending.

Several sources told Kommersant that the changes in calculations are biased and politically motivated due to Moscow’s sanctions imposed after Ankara had downed Russia’s Su-24 bomber in November 2015. A source said that “the cheapest and unreliable Ukrainian imports were excluded from the measure, the investigation was purely political.”

But another source told the business daily that Turkey will impose an 18% anti-dumping duty on rolled stock imports from China, so it would be wrong to say that the ministry will restrict only Russian imports.

Representatives for MMK, NLMK and Severstal said the companies export their goods basing on market prices and in accordance with international legislation, and the companies will use any legal possiblity to challenge the ministry’s decision.

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