FAS discussed cement

On 17 May 2016, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) discussed mandatory cement certification and cement pricing.

Representatives of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia), large Russian and foreign cement producers, industry associations and the authorities – the Ministry of Economic Development, the Federal Accreditation Service, the Federal Agency on Technical Regulation and Metrology, the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Industry and Trade took part in the meeting.

Discussing cement pricing, the experts agreed that a growth of cement prices for industrial customers (in bulk) are not observed. A slight increase in Q2 2016 is due to the seasonal demand.

At the same time, FAs is receiving more complains from individuals regarding increased prices for bagged cement.

“To stabilize retail cement prices FAS proposes to set up bagged cement points of sale. It will help avoiding increased costs because intermediaries will be eliminated from the supply chain”, explains the Head of FAS Department for Industry Control, Nelli Galimkhanova.

Mandatory cement certification was another pressing issue for the industry. On 7 March 2016 No. 930 Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation came into force making cement certification mandatory.

According to the Federal Agency on Technical Regulation and Metrology and the Ministry of Economic Development, so far more than 50 cement works in Russia and several Belarus producers certified their products. At the same time, some importers experience difficulties with certification.

“At the meeting the parties agreed that FAS will forward all statements on impossibility to pass certification to the authorities that supervise the process”, said Ms. Galimkhanova. “Together with market players and the expert community FAS will draft proposals on possible way-outs from the situation that also will be forwarded to the relevant authorities for consideration”.