Alexey Ulyanov, head of the department of industrial supervision at the Federal Antimonopoly Service
Photo:
| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
Smelters Have Right to 80% Price Hike
An inspection by the Federal Antimonopoly Service has not uncovered any irregularities in the actions of Russian metals companies that have raised their prices several times since the beginning of the year for a total of about 82 percent. The companies agreed with FAS recommendations to convert to long-term contracts (for one year or more) with consumers, but with the right to index prices quarterly to the price of raw materials, at a meeting of FAS experts on Wednesday evening. Smelters, metal ore and coal producers, pipe makers and oil companies were represented at the meeting.
In the first phase, the length of which has not been specified, the FAS will examine all contracts to prevent the inclusion of points that limit competition. The metallurgists were able to convince the FAS of price indexation because of the clean results of its investigation of their pricing policy. Factory prices rose more slowly than production costs. The investigation was initiated at the behest of the oil companies and pipe makers, who complained to the service of the rising cost of their raw materials for oil and gas pipes.
The first price rise was at the beginning of the year, after a rise in the price of coking coal. The smelters raised their prices 30 percent in April and another 30 percent in May. Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin called two meetings to discuss the problem. The FAS expert council’s decisions are not binding and have no deadlines. The transition to a contract system could take months, or even a few years. “If we develop a mechanism by the end of the year for metallurgy to work on long contracts, it can be considered a big success,” stated Deputy Industry Minister Andrey Dementyev.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 04, 2008
|
|
|
