In 2013 May, the Customs Union a free trade area which includes Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus imposed an anti-dumping tariff on imports of cold-worked seamless stainless steel pipes from China.

The decision to that effect was approved by the Eurasian Economic Commission in mid-April.

A 19.5% tariff will remain in effect for the next 5 years.

The decision comes after a lengthy anti-dumping investigation launched by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade in later November 2011. The probe was initiated by four Russian makers of pipes: the Chelyabinsk Pipe Plant, the Pervouralsiy New Pipe Plant, the Sinarskiy Pipe Plant, and TMK-INOKS. The first two of these companies are part of the ChPTZ steel group; the other two are controlled by TMK.

The probe looked into the pricing policy of Chinese exporters of stainless steel pipes over a three-year period between 2008 and 2010. By the end of that period Chinese companies had increased their share of seamless stainless steel pipe imports to the Customs Union market to 78.8%.

The investigation also established that the weighted average price of such pipes had fallen by 15.2% between 2008 and 2010, followed by a further 2% fall in the H1 of 2011. Demand on the Customs Union market had increased sharply by almost 50%, but domestic production actually shrank by 9.1%.

The EEC in a statement said that "Against the backdrop of rapidly growing imports of such pipes from China at dumping prices, the share of the Customs Union market held by domestic suppliers fell by 12% points, while the share of Chinese imports rose by 31.6% points."

The restrictions imposed by the commission on Chinese imports have proved very timely as demand on the Customs Union market has begun to decline.

Mr IlyaZhitomirskiy head of public relations at TMK said that "Amid falling demand, price competition between the suppliers is growing. The Chinese competitors have lower costs compared to Russian suppliers because they have access to cheaper steel and cheaper labour.”

Accusations of dumping leveled at Chinese exporters are nothing new. The Customs Union states had already imposed a 19% protective tariff on a previous occasion, back in 2011.