MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/. Pressure from imported products, including those from China and Kazakhstan, on the Russian rolled steel market persists, although the overall situation remains stable and predictable. At the same time, competition in the finished products segment has intensified due to an influx of low-quality products, Director of Severstal Distribution (part of Severstal) Viktor Romanovsky told reporters.
"If we talk about import pressure on the Russian market, it still persists," Romanovsky said in response to a question about competition from Chinese and Kazakh imports. He added that some local players had redirected their volumes to other markets, but their share was not large enough to significantly reduce the overall pressure.
According to Romanovsky, the situation is more challenging in the finished products segment. "If we talk about competition in finished products, the situation here has definitely not improved and may even have worsened," he said. Romanovsky stressed that despite efforts by Russian producers and their customers to reduce costs and improve efficiency, large volumes of low-quality products continue to enter the market.
"And customers whose purchasing power is declining often choose price over quality, sometimes disregarding the quality characteristics of the product itself," Romanovsky added, explaining the reasons for increased competition in this segment.
Last summer, Severstal CEO Alexander Shevelev said that rising steel imports into Russia were increasing the market's sensitivity, although imports were not yet particularly painful for Russian steelmakers. Severstal is analyzing the situation and does not rule out initiating anti-dumping duties.
Severstal is a vertically integrated mining and steel company and one of Russia's largest steel producers. The company's key asset is the Cherepovets Steel Mill, which has an annual production capacity of around 12 mln metric tons of steel. Severstal's largest shareholder is Alexey Mordashov, who owns approximately 77.03% of the company's shares.