EU To Impose Duties On Ukrainian Seamless Pipes.

The antidumping investigation into imports of seamless pipes from Russia, Croatia, Romania and Ukraine launched by the European Commission on March 31, 2005 resulted in import duties for these products. The Ukrainian companies that will be affected the most by this decision are Nikopol Stainless Pipe Plant (28.2% duty) owned by Dnipropetrovsk holding UTIST and two Interpipe-controlled plants, Nyzhnyodniprovsky Pipe Rolling (NITR: Pending) and Nikopol Seamless Pipe Plant ‘Niko Tube’ (27% duty for both). Concorde Capital: The EU market has historically been difficult to enter and to expand into for Ukrainian pipe makers due to severe protectionist measures. Export duties have been applied to Ukrainian pipe producers by the EU in the past. We think that the most likely implication of the new duties will be a slowdown in expansion rather than a decrease of Ukrainian exports to the EU, as Ukrainian pipe makers are cost competitive enough to be able to bear the duties. The European market comprises 15-20% of Ukrainian pipe sales and is much less important than Russian market.