OREANDA-NEWS. February 06, 2012. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) discovered that in August 2009 - December 2010 the NLMK group of persons comprising “Novolipetsk Metallurgical Integrated Works” OJSC (“NLMK” OJSC) and “VIZ-Stal” Ltd. held up prices for electro-technical transformer steel for Russian consumers. Prices for Russia consumers exceeded delivery prices for foreign markets by 100%. FAS Commission did not reveal economic and technological factors that determined such difference of prices for goods, and concluded that such actions contravened Clause 1 Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”б reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

“NLMK” OJSC and “VIZ-Stal” Ltd. are the only producers of electro-technical anisotropic (transformer) steel in the Russian Federation. The main consumers of these products are manufacturers of high-voltage electro-technical equipment.

“In the period of falling global prices for metal products, the price of electro-technical transformer steel supplied to foreign consumers was decreasing considerably, while for Russian consumers the price remained considerably stable. The trend was determined by the fact that Russian suppliers had to reduce prices for foreign consumers under the pressure of competition from foreign manufacturers. Competition on the domestic market does not exist, which allowed the monopolist to maintain prices at relatively high level”, pointed out the Head of FAS Department of industry and Defence Complex, Maxim Ovchinnikov.