Ukraine has agreed on a protocol on duty free supplies of steel pipes to Russia amounting to 120,000 tons in the H1 of 2013.
The protocol amends the agreement on the regulation of supplies of some types of steel pipes from Ukraine to Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. In addition, in the first half of the current year 35,000 tons of Ukrainian steel pipes may be supplied duty free to Belarus and 16,000 tons of Ukrainian steel pipes may be supplied duty free to Kazakhstan.
The protocol was signed on December 31st, 2012. The protocol is temporarily in effect in Russia from January 16th, 2013. At the end of December 2011, Ukraine and the Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus signed an agreement on the duty free supply of 264,000 tons of Ukrainian pipes in total in January to June 2012.
In particular, 72,000 tons of pipes were to be supplied to Belarus, 42,000 tons to Kazakhstan and 150,000 tons to Russia. Subsequently agreements to retain the same volumes of supplies to Russia were reached for the second half of the year. (SteelGuru)