Russia: 2 More Coal Firms Come Under Fire

Warning: Undefined variable $result in /var/www/peakoil.com/public_html/wp-content/plugins/random-image-widget/random_image.php on line 89

Warning: Undefined variable $result in /var/www/peakoil.com/public_html/wp-content/plugins/random-image-widget/random_image.php on line 89

Warning: Undefined variable $result in /var/www/peakoil.com/public_html/wp-content/plugins/random-image-widget/random_image.php on line 89

Warning: Undefined variable $result in /var/www/peakoil.com/public_html/wp-content/plugins/random-image-widget/random_image.php on line 89

The government’s antitrust probe into rising coal prices widened Wednesday to include Evraz Group and Raspadskaya, just days after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attacked miner Mechel.

The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service said in a statement Wednesday that it had launched an investigation into whether Evraz and Raspadskaya had abused their “dominant position in the market for coking coal, setting unjustifiably high domestic prices and discriminated against the domestic market.”
The service said Raspadskaya’s and Evraz’s coal prices had “roughly doubled” from September through May.

Evraz is part-owned by former Chukotka Governor Roman Abramovich, a close ally of Putin’s. Evraz owns 40 percent of Raspadskaya.

If the companies are found guilty of antitrust violations, Evraz could face a fine of up to $70 million, and Raspadskaya of up to $40 million, said Georgy Buzhenitsa, a metals analyst at UniCredit Aton.

The new probes come six days after Putin on Thursday urged an investigation into Mechel over price-fixing, criticized its billionaire owner, Igor Zyuzin, for not showing up to an industry meeting and proposed scrapping import tariffs on iron ore and coal to curb steel costs.

Putin followed up his criticism of the company Monday by accusing it of illegal transfer pricing. In response to the attacks, Mechel’s shares shed 49 percent of their value by Tuesday’s close.

But analysts and market participants on Wednesday questioned the credibility of the accusations against the three companies, which together account for more than 50 percent of the country’s coking coal market.

Moscow Times