UPDATE 3: EU sets final 5-yr duties on cold-rolled steel from Russia

(Adds details in paragraphs 4-7)

BRUSSELS/VIENTIANE, Aug 4 (PRIME) -- The E.U. has finally introduced an anti-dumping duty on cold-rolled steel from Russia and China for five years, according to the official journal seen by PRIME on Thursday.

In February, the European Commission preliminarily introduced a 19.8–26.2% duty on imports of Russian cold-rolled steel following a 6-month investigation, and in June, raised the duty to 34.1% for Severstal, and to 36.1% for Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) and other metals producers. The duty for Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) was set at 18.7%.

Spokeswoman for the E.U. Mina Andreyeva said the new duties will be retroactive, covering goods imported in a two-month period before the duties were first introduced.

Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev told reporters that Russia may ask the World Trade Organization (WTO) to start an investigation.

“We will decide on this. There is a vast array of possible actions, including submitting a request to the WTO dispute body for a corresponding investigation. We may apply other measures,” he said.

“We think that the procedure of antidumping investigation was not done properly and was carried out with violations of rights of Russian exporters. The usual practice is when an exporter against whom the investigation is going on has the right to present its arguments and proofs that it operates in accordance with regulations. Unfortunately, Russian arguments were not even studied.”

The E.U. experts that visited Russia rejected any opportunity to understand or listen to arguments of Russian companies. “That is why we think that this was wrong. I’ve sent a corresponding letter to my colleague, European Trade Commissioner (Cecilia) Malmstrom, but I received no positive answer,” he said.

NLMK, MMK and Severstal said they will contest the E.U. measure.

A representative of NLMK said the E.U. investigation of the company's price-forming process was done with many violations and the data presented by NLMK was replaced with information from other companies and faked calculations.

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