FAS in coal

The department found new violators

The Federal Antimonopoly Service continues to threaten metallurgists with all sorts of investigations on suspicion of abuses with market prices. On May 21, the department has already opened a case against two companies of the Evraz Group - the trading company Evrazholding and the Nizhny Tagil Iron and Steel Works. Then the FAS found violations of pricing in the rolled metal market, but on July 6 it postponed the consideration of the case for a month. However, as early as May 25, it became known that the antimonopoly service would not limit itself to Evrazholding and that other large Russian metallurgical plants, Severstal and MMK, were also targeted. The FAS kept its threats: yesterday the agency announced that it had opened a case against a group of individuals from Evrazholding, Raspadskaya Coal Company and Severstal on suspicion of abuses in the coking coal market.

Signs of a violation are seen “in the economically, technologically and otherwise unjustified establishment of different prices when concluding contracts for the supply of coking coal concentrates of caking grades Zh (fat), GZh (gas fat) to Russian and foreign consumers.” The difference between the contract prices of coking coal concentrates did not depend on the volume of supply and transportation costs. The FAS suspects companies of creating discriminatory conditions for Russian consumers compared to foreign ones. The case was initiated based on the results of an analysis of the market for coking coal concentrates in Russia, carried out by the antimonopoly authority in January-March 2010. A Severstal representative declined to comment; representatives of Evraz Group and Raspadskaya could not be contacted.

As reported, the FAS is conducting an analysis of the cost of the main stages of metal products, starting from coking coal and iron ore raw materials and ending with finished metallurgical products, in accordance with the instructions of the Russian government. The reason for the investigation was the increase in domestic prices for metal products, which was observed at the beginning of 2010. In mid-May, it became known that a number of steel plants, including MMK, Severstal and NLMK, notified car factories of their intention to increase prices for their products from July by 20-30%. The accident at the Raspadskaya mine, which claimed dozens of lives, provoked a shortage of coal on the market and raised fears of rising metal prices, also gave impetus to the development of the situation.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered the FAS to conduct an investigation. In his opinion, pricing in metallurgy should not make sharp leaps.

Currently, the antimonopoly agency continues to analyze the situation related to pricing of other major metallurgical companies - Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works and Mechel. Theoretically, if the FAS finds violations, companies could face a fine of up to 15% of their annual turnover. It is known how effective the results of the investigation may be. Two years ago, Prime Minister Putin promised to “send a doctor” to the owner of the Mechel company, publicly accusing it of monopoly inflating prices for products. Almost immediately, the company’s capitalization collapsed significantly. The FAS completed the “treatment” of Mechel, imposing a fine on the company, taking into account its repentance, in the amount of 797.7 million rubles. (5% of annual turnover from sales of coking coal, while the law allows you to request the full 15%). In addition to Mechel, the companies Evrazholding (RUB 149.14 million) and Raspadsky Coal (RUB 117.25 million) have already been fined. for abusing a dominant position in the coking coal market.

Irina TSYRULEVA