MOSCOW: Russia will decide about whether to impose additional taxes on steel producers this year, TASS news agency reported on Wednesday, citing First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov.
Russian metals producers may face a demand to pay 100 billion roubles ($1.4 billion) in additional tax to the government.
The changes are being considered only for producers of ferrous metals, Belousov was quoted as saying, adding that producers of base metals were expected to remain unaffected. “We need to find decision this year,” Belousov said, adding that “there is no task to take money away from metals producers.”
Moscow has been concerned about rising raw materials costs for defence and construction industries as part of widespread attempts to keep domestic commodity prices stable even though they are rising at a global level.
Some steel producers such as Evraz and Metalloinvest are already supplying rail tracks and other steel products to state projects at lower prices, Belousov said.
He said he was sceptical about a proposal to buy steel products for the state stockpile, which was discussed by the industry ministry this week.
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