Russian govt approves deferral of excise tax on liquid steel, MET on iron ore until Dec 1, 2025

MOSCOW. Oct 30 (Interfax) - The Russian government has approved a deferral of the excise tax on liquid steel and the mineral extraction tax (MET) on iron ore until December 1, 2025.

This concerns taxes whose payment deadline falls in the period from September to November.

The corresponding decree was signed on October 29.

"This measure will allow metallurgical enterprises to free up working capital, which in turn will additionally support their activities and investment activity," the government's press service said.

The excise tax on steel, which was initially considered a temporary measure, was introduced on January 1, 2022. According to the calculation formula for the excise tax for vertically integrated steel producers, it is zeroed out provided that the value of the C-slab indicator (the export price for slabs for a calendar month) multiplied by the average value of the U.S. dollar to ruble exchange rate for the calendar month is below 30,000 rubles. According to the Russian Steel Association, the cost of a slab even for the most efficient Russian metallurgical plants exceeded 40,000 rubles per tonne in 2024.