Japan Government Offers Russia Abolition of Steel Pipe Safeguard

Mikhail Fradkiv, Russian Prime Minister and Viktor Khristenko, Russian Industry and Energy Minister arrived in Japan on February 26 to confer with Shinzo Abe, Japanese Prime Minister, Akira Amari, Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister and Taro Aso, Foreign Minister. They will have some talk on Russian safeguard against large diameter steel pipe import. Japanese Ministers are expected to ask Russian current market conditions, policies and safeguard abolition on large diameter steel pipe.Russian government announced safeguard in November 2006 along which 8% special custom duty is imposed on large diameter steel pipe imports for 3 years by 2009. Japanese government has offered abolishment of the safeguard along WTO rule. Japanese government has insisted that Russian domestic pipe production is increasing, that there was no objectivity for Russian authentication that steel pipe imports impacted its domestic pipe makers and that Japanese steel pipes cannot be produced in Russia and don’t compete with Russian pipes.