Russian Govt may support production of alloy raw materials

The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources has offered a range of state benefits for development of deposits, providing Russian steelmakers with alloy raw materials to reduce their dependence on imports (more than $500 million per year). Thus, the Ministry proposes to nullify the severance tax for new projects, to use the Federal State Reserve Agency’s purchases to support the demand, to decrease tariffs of monopolies. A number of manufacturers welcome the idea of ​​the state support, but the position of metallurgists is more cautious: according to sources of the Kommersant, the imported alternative holds back prices of the Russian raw materials suppliers.

The Ministry of Natural Resources has proposed to support the development of deposits of solid minerals that are important to reduce dependence on imports of iron and steel on account of the budget; this follows from the letter of the Deputy Minister, head of Rosnedra Evgeny Kiselyov dated April 8 to the Ministry of Industry. The Ministry prepared the proposals on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who held a meeting with steelmakers in February.