Manturov: Tax burden on steel industry needs to be eased by adjusting excise, revising MET

MOSCOW. Aug 1 (Interfax) - The tax burden on the Russian steel industry needs to be eased by adjusting the excise tax on liquid steel and revising mineral extraction tax or MET for iron ore and coal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said at a meeting on the metallurgical sector's development chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Firstly we believe it is necessary to reduce the fiscal burden, which was introduced last year on a wave of windfall profits. The situation has now changed dramatically. In this regard, I would ask you to back our initiative to adjust the excise tax on liquid steel. This has today essentially become not a tax on income, but one on turnover which the sector did not previously have," Manturov said. "This was certainly justified when prices spiked, but now we propose to return to this issue, amid ongoing decline in capacity utilization and the performance indicators of the enterprises themselves," he said.

The export margins of Russian metallurgists are not as high as they were a year ago, and world steel prices are falling sharply, so metallurgists are also forced to work at a discount in new markets, Manturov said.

He also spoke of the need to revise the formula for calculating MET for iron ore and coking coal for each enterprise, taking their specifics into consideration.

"Mining enterprises are also under pressure at present. Mikhailovsky GOK, for example, has been left practically without a sales market.... As I have said, MMK is underutilized - Europe is closed and it [Mikhailovsky] produces pellets and concentrate," Manturov said.