Russia May Increase Duties on PVC Imports

Leading Russian PVC producers, members of the Russian Association of Chlorine Industry Enterprises, have called on the government to raise customs duties on imports of PVC to Russia.

At present, the duty on the imports of PVC to Russia is estimated at 10% of customs value, while, according to the proposal of the enterprises, there is a need to increase it to 15% (but not less than €0.12 per kg).

This measure is expected to help producers implement their earlier announced modernization programmes.

This is the second time the country’s leading PVC producers, including Kaustik, Sayanskkhimplast, Khimprom, Usolyechimprom, Nitrogen and Chlorine Safety, have called for an increase on PVC import duties in eight months.

In December 2010, the same proposal was considered at a meeting of the Committee on Regulation of Foreign Trade, part of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. However, the proposal was not supported by Belarus.

The new proposal is expected to be considered by the Russian government over the next few weeks.

However, many PVC processors in the country have criticized the initiative, saying that an increase in duties on imports of PVC to Russia will necessitate a simultaneous increase in duties in imports of finished products such as PVC window profiles.

According to them, there is a need to reduce the current duty up to 5%, or even completely abolish it with the aim of stimulation of domestic processing of PVC.

At present the majority of PVC imports (30%) is supplied to Russia from China.