KYIV, Apr. 3 (Ukrainian News) – Top Ukrainian and Russian officials last week agreed that Russia would postpone imposing a duty on Ukrainian pipe imports that Russia has accused Ukraine of exporting to its market at dumping prices.
Oleh Dubyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for industry, told Ukrainian News on Monday that he managed to arrive at an agreement with his Russian counterpart Aleksei Kudrin to postpone imposition of the duty until April 15.
According to Dubyna, the pipe import duty issue is expected to be finally resolved at the prime-ministerial level prior to the April 15 deadline set by the two deputy premiers.
At the same time, Yevgeny Yezhov, a spokesman for Kudrin, said that the Russian deputy prime minister ordered the drafting of a Russian government resolution on introducing a 40 percent import duty on Ukrainian pipes after talks with Dubyna.
“Kudrin ordered the drafting of a government resolution on introduction of protective duties. It will be sent to the prime minister for signing,” Yezhov said.
According to Yezhov, Russia does not intend to impose import duties on large-diameter pipes.
Prior to Dubyna’s March 29 visit to Moscow to iron out with Kudrin the touchy Ukrainian pipe issue, Russia had planned to introduce import duties on Ukrainian pipe by March 30 if Ukraine failed to accept an import quota into Russia of 480,000 tons of pipe per year.
Ukraine and Russia tried throughout last year to resolve the Ukrainian pipe issue, but no progress was made regarding pipe imports during negotiations between the sides.
Last year on March 17 Russia launched a nine-month-long antidumping investigation into pipe imports from Ukraine, but were unable to conclude whether Ukraine was guilty of pipe dumping into Russia.
Consequently, the Ukrainian government considered the issue of Ukrainian pipe exports to Russia closed. However, Russian pipe producers have continued to demand that their government limit pipe imports from Ukraine.
According to Yezhov, the results of the investigation showed that Ukrainian pipe manufacturers receive government subsidies, resulting in unequal conditions for Russian pipe manufacturers, whose pipe prices are higher than those of Ukrainian-made pipe.
According to data from Ukraine’s Economy Ministry, Ukrainian pipe factories manufactured 1.7 million tons of pipe last year, two-thirds of which was exported, including 788,000 tons to Russia.
