Russia switches to zero import duty on ferrous scrap

Archiv – The Russian government has cut its import duty on ferrous metal scrap from 5% to zero for a period of nine months, according to a Cabinet decree posted on an official website. Zero duty will also apply to flat iron or non-alloyed steel products not wider than 0.6 cm for industrial automobile assembly. Russia | The Russian government has cut its import duty on ferrous metal scrap from 5% to zero for a period of nine months, according to a Cabinet decree posted on an official website. Zero duty will also apply to flat iron or non-alloyed steel products not wider than 0.6 cm for industrial automobile assembly.
The duty change comes into effect two months after its official publication and is being introduced because some steel mills have stopped – or are planning to halt – the supply of metal to automotive plants owing to the car industry’s mounting debts. For example, Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) has stopped supplying the GAZ auto works, according to press agency InterFax, with an MMK source putting the automotive industry’€™s overall debt with the company at 3 billion roubles (US$ 110 million).
In total, MMK is owed between 25 and 27 billion roubles by its customers, according to the same source.