Russia's Industry and Trade, Finance ministries to analyze metal companies' financial stability by end of June in order to take measures, including rescinding excise duty on steel

MOSCOW. June 7 (Interfax) - Russia's Industry and Trade Ministry, jointly with the Finance Ministry, is to analyze in detail by the end of June the level of financial stability of domestic metals companies in order to decide on additional support measures, including rescinding the excise tax on steel, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told reporters.

"We have agreed that we would conduct detailed monitoring by the end of the month, including on the movement of the enterprises' own funds, in order to understand how urgent this [rescinding the excise tax] is in order to take a prompt decision."

Manturov explained that the discussions with the Finance Ministry were mainly focused on "ensuring the efficient export of metals products."

The ministry noted that the Industry and Trade Ministry does not yet see the need to take an urgent decision on rescinding the excise tax on steel.

"I can confirm that the financial results for metals enterprises were not bad in January-April 2022 compared to 2021; therefore, it is probably not urgently necessary to take hasty decisions [on rescinding the excise tax on steel]. However, as I confirm, we have already started discussions with the Finance Ministry, because we see that the trend has been negative for the past week-and-a-half, primarily because of the ruble exchange rate," Manturov said.

"Let us see how everything turns out, but the main factor once again today is the ruble exchange rate," the minister said when answering about possibly rescinding the increased mineral extraction tax (MET) on iron ore and coal.