OREANDA-NEWS Russian polymer processors, who have lost part of the export market due to sanctions, are asking the government to impose protective duties on finished imported products, mainly from China, and to reset import rates for materials and components. The government in response asks to prove the fact of dumping of foreign suppliers.

The largest manufacturer of equipment for ERA ventilation and revision systems in the Russian Federation (ERA, Diciti, Evecs, Auramax and ERA Pro brands) is asking the government to set an import duty on plastic products and imported fans at more than 20%. The company explains that it is forced to buy engines for fans in China that are not manufactured in Russia, with an import duty of 11%, while finished foreign products enter the country without duties.

ERA emphasizes that the eighth package of sanctions actually banned the export of the company's products to the EU, and duties of 20-35% apply on the markets of friendly countries.

The company's export revenue in 2022 amounted to about 800 million rubles and may decrease by 15-20% in 2023: "WTO rules do not greatly concern governments that protect their own market from competition from importers. We have offered to compensate exporters for import customs duties (20-35%) when delivering Russian goods to foreign countries."

As the Director of Economics, Finance, Legal Affairs and personnel of ERA Ulyana Tararyshkina explained to Kommersant, in order to establish the maximum possible rate of duty on fans in the amount of 3%, the company needs to confirm that the products from China and other countries were cheaper in the previous three years, that is, there was dumping. But it is impossible to do this because of the differences in the nomenclature of goods that fall into the same customs group. In addition, even if it is possible to confirm the fact of dumping, the process of establishing the duty will take up to a year.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade offered ERA to provide specifications, data on prices and the number of engines to search for Russian suppliers, as well as to consider the option of building its own plant with state support in the amount of up to 2 billion rubles. at a rate of 1-3%. As Ms. Tararyshkina explained, the company intends to build a plant, but still needs to reduce import duties on engines for the duration of the project. The Ministry of Industry and Trade did not comment on the situation.