Companies@UA: База компаний Украины

Kyiv, August 5 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukrainian steel mills in January to July 2009 obtained licenses to ship 48,675 tonnes of rebar, or 13.41% of the annual quota for the current year (363,000 tonnes), the Ukrainian Economy Ministry has told Interfax-Ukraine.

The source in the ministry said that the quota for Q1, 2009 was 54,450 tonnes, for Q2, 2009 it was 127,050 tonnes and for Q3, 2009 is also 127,050 tonnes.

"In Q3, 2009 16,340 tonnes or 12.86% of the quarterly quota of 127,050 tonnes were shipped under licenses in Q3, 2009," the source said.

As reported, the Ukrainian cabinet has approved quotas on reinforced steel rebar shipments to Russia until December 31, 2010, according to an agreement on the regulation of rebar supplies to Russia signed between the Ukrainian Economy Ministry and Russian Economic Development and Trade Ministry.

According to a cabinet resolution of September 19, 2007, the 2007 quota is 112,000 tonnes, the 2008 quota is 330,000 tonnes, including 49,500 tonnes for Q1 and Q2 each, and 115,500 tonnes for Q3 and Q4 each; the 2009 quota is 363,000 tonnes, including 54,450 tonnes for Q1 and Q2 each, and 127,050 tonnes for Q3 and Q4 each; and the 2010 quota is 400,000 tonnes, including 60,000 tonnes for Q1 and Q2 each, and 140,000 tonnes for Q3 and Q4 each.

The quarterly quota can be exceeded by rolling over the non-used quota for the previous quarter of the fiscal year or by transferring a part of the quota from the next quarter, although the increase cannot be more than 3% of the set quota.

The cabinet obliged the Economy Ministry to license exports of reinforced steel rebar according to the quotas.

As reported earlier, following an appeal by the Evraz Group's West Siberian Iron & Steel Plant (ZSMK), the Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), Mechel's Chelyabinsk Iron & Steel Works and Severstal, the Russian Economic Development and Trade Ministry in April 2007 decided to launch a repeat probe into Ukrainian rebar shipments in order to establish whether Ukraine had resumed shipments of subsidized rebar.

Despite imposing a compensatory duty of 21% for the period 2003-2006, imports of Ukrainian rebar to Russia soared 12.8-fold in that period, to 238,500 tonnes.

In the summer 2002, Russia imposed three-year compensation duty of 21% on imports of Ukrainian rebar. In January 2006, the Russian government issued another resolution on the introduction of 21% compensation duty on imports of Ukrainian rebar until August 14, 2007.

The total capacity of the Russian rebar market is evaluated at 500,000 tonnes per month.

Ukraine has proposed to restrict by itself rebar supplies to the Russian market.