The domestic market protection department of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) has proposed that the antidumping duty on supplies of steel solid-rolled railway wheels from Ukraine, the main manufacturer of which is Interpipe Pipe and Wheel Company, is increased from 4.75% to 34.22%.

The conclusion of the commission was posted on the EEC's website on January 19.

According to the document, the repeated antidumping investigation was started on February 22, 2017 under a petition of Vyksa Steel Works and EVRAZ Nizhny Tagil Steel Works and backed by Prommashkomplekt.

The applicants' share in the total volume of the goods produced in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is about 96.8%, and together with the enterprises that supported the application it is 100%.

It is recalled that the antidumping measure for steel solid-rolled wheels from Ukraine was established by the decision of the EEC panel on December 22, 2015, after considering the results of the relevant antidumping investigation, with setting a duty of 4.75% for a period of five years and applied from January 22, 2016 year.

In addition, it is reported that the repeated antidumping investigation was started on the basis of information provided by the applicant enterprises that, in connection with the changed circumstances, the existing antidumping measure is insufficient to counteract the dumping import and to eliminate the damage to the economic sector of the EAEU member states as a result of dumping imports.

The domestic market protection department made a verification visit to the production site of Interpipe-M (Russia). Representatives of the Interpipe group presented a number of documents on the sale of steel all-rolled wheels and their cost.

According to the audit results, information on the sale of wheels to the domestic market of Ukraine, presented in the responses to the Antidumping Questionnaire of the group of companies Interpipe, was declared unreliable by the department.

According to the department, the volume of imports of wheels from Ukraine to the EAEU in 2013 was 61,200-69,500 tonnes, in 2014 – 55,400-63,000 tonnes, 2015 – 34,000-38,600 tonnes, 2016 – 50,100-56,900 tonnes.

At the same time, 415,600-472,400 tonnes of wheels were produced in the EAEU in 2013, 276.5-314.4 thousand tonnes in 2014, and 192.7-219.1 tonnes in 2015 thousand tonnes and in 2016 - 206.4-234.7 thousand tonnes. Apparent consumption of this product in the EAEU was: in 2013 some 446,900-508,000 tonnes, in 2014 – 313,400-356,200 tonnes, in 2015 – 187,200-212,900 tonnes, and in 2016 – 213,700-242,900 tonnes.

"Based on the results of the repeated antidumping investigation, it is proposed to change the antidumping duty rate payable when importing goods originating from Ukraine into the customs territory of the EAEU, according to the individual dumping margin set during the repeated antidumping investigation - 34.22%," the department said.