The European Commission’s decision to impose duties on Russian steel will be disputed by Russian steel giant Severstal.
The company’s CEO Alexey Mordashov has told a Russian television station that Severstal (and probably other Russian steelmakers) will try to find alternative markets for their products.
“We will try to find alternative markets but we will definitely dispute the decision of the European Commission,” said Mordashov. “Unfortunately it is based not on the fact of non-co-operation with the Commission, which is very strange: we answered all the questions, we received the EU delegation, which arrived to our enterprise for verification. Accusation of non-co-operation is groundless.”
Severstal has forecasted that steel prices will remain low for more than five years. According to Mordashov, prices are starting to fall again after a rise at the end of Q1. “We hope they will not drop too strongly and the cut-off level of $350 per tonne of hot-rolled coil will remain the low limit,” he said.
Mordashov said that the ‘volatility characteristic’ of the steel market will remain relevant for Severstal in the coming years by virtue of the low level of capacity utilisation worldwide. “More than five years or even a much longer period can be the case in point,” he added.
Source: TASS news agency.