The Ministry of Industry and Trade appealed to the FAS due to rising prices for fittings

The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade sent a request to the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) to issue instructions to valve manufacturers regarding unreasonable price increases. This was announced by Deputy Head of the Ministry Viktor Evtukhov, transmits Interfax.

The official said that quotes from factories for shipments for October increased by 14.5% to 55,000 rubles. per ton excluding VAT, which may affect prices for end consumers. At the same time, there are no objective reasons for increasing quotes now, Evtukhov emphasized.

Individual market participants with a total share of 35% of the production of all valves in the country (and up to 80% of production volumes in the Central Federal District) immediately increased prices by 10,000 rubles/t, up to 60,000 rubles/t.

“Such a sharp increase in quotations led to a chain reaction from other factories <...> Therefore, as I promised, we sent a corresponding request to the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia in order to obtain an order for companies on acceptable market behavior,” said Evtukhov.

In March of this year, the Ministry of Construction sent appeal to the Federal Antimonopoly Service with a complaint about the increase in prices for fittings. Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services Irek Fayzullin then stated that the Ministry of Construction “is not satisfied today with the increase in the price of metal and fittings that has occurred in our country in the last three weeks.” Today Evtukhov recalled that at that time the price increase was considered justified due to the rise in prices for coal and scrap. After this, an agreement was reached on no further increase in prices, and from April to August the metallurgists “kept their promise.” At the end of May it was recorded even a slight decrease.

September 21 Ministry of Industry and Trade reportedwhich suggested that metallurgists work on options for reducing the cost of fittings for the construction of facilities under regional or state orders.

Previously, the Ministry of Economic Development proposed introducing a permanent mechanism for changing contract prices due to the rising cost of building materials. The department noted that it is necessary to establish clear criteria for the possibility of adjusting the prices of contracts that are already being executed, as well as approve a “road map” to support manufacturers of building materials. The Ministry of Energy also invited companies to hire predominantly Russian workers when carrying out government construction orders.