Severstal Comments on U.S. Decision Concerning Rolled Steel Imports

On October 16, 2002 the US International Trade Commission made final decision within the framework of the antidumping investigation against cold rolled steel imports from 20 countries including Russia. According to this decision, the Commission recognizes that imports from these countries did not bring damage or posed a threat to US industry, the press service of Severstal reported.

Moreover, the agreement on suspending the antidumping investigation, which was signed by Severstal, the Novolipetsk and Magnitogorsk metal works and the US Department of Commerce also is canceled, as there is no necessity any longer for introducing trade restrictions, the press service pointed out.

"Nobody will set a minimal price level for us, which could hinder our cold rolled product exports to the USA", Anatoly Kruchinin, general director of Severstal, declared.

So, the Russian-US trade relations concerning cold rolled steel are stipulated by the earlier agreement, which envisages a 370,000-ton quota per year with a 30-percent tax.