Russian govt to consider additional support measures for steelmakers case by case

MOSCOW. March 4 (Interfax) - Additional anti-crisis measures to support Russian steel companies must be discussed on an individual basis, taking into account a detailed analysis of the financial situation of specific projects and their socioeconomic importance, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov said Tuesday at a meeting on the development of the iron and steel industry.

The meeting was attended by senior officials from the Industry and Trade Ministry, Natural Resources Ministry, Digital Development Ministry, Energy Ministry, Finance Ministry, industrial safety watchdog Rostekhnadzor, the Federal Antimonopoly Service and Federal Tax Service, as well as representatives of the shareholders and management of key industry organizations and the industry union, Manturov's office reported.

Manturov supported the representatives of business associations in that they should be involved in discussions about laws and regulations currently in the works that affect regulation of the industry.

The meeting participants also discussed the current state of the steel industry, the implementation of important investment projects, issues related to the protection of the domestic market, fulfilment of defense contracts, control over transfer pricing on external transactions and possible measures of state support, the press release said.

Since the start of the year steelmakers have been more actively drawing the authorities' attention to problems arising in their industry amid the cooling of the Russian economy.

In February, Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov said the situation in the steel industry is difficult and proposed deferring payment of the steel excise and mineral extraction tax on iron ore until the end of 2026 as a support measure. He also called for exempting strategic investment projects that are being completed from the excise for a period of three years after the end of the investment phase.

At a meeting of the sub-commission on increasing the stability of the financial sector and certain sectors of the economy last month that also considered the situation in the ferrous and nonferrous metal industries, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak called for thorough monitoring of the sector's condition to formulate a comprehensive assessment of the processes taking place in it.

Novak also instructed sectoral agencies to carefully consider support measures to boost the efficiency and competitiveness of the metallurgy sector, remarking that, "amid the internal structural changes taking place in the economy, metallurgy has huge potential to increase labor productivity and, accordingly, improve performance."

A source familiar with the course of that meeting told Interfax at the time that the Finance Ministry "opposed most points, citing the absence of a sharp deterioration and the need to bolster the budget."