Ukraine, of course, has known of and prepared for the current stage in the trade war on the metals market, introduced by the world’s acknowledged “free trade champion” President Bush when he announced the imposition of a higher import tax on steel from a number of countries, including Ukraine. It seems that certain things just fail to work. Volodymyr Taranenko, one of the leaders of the Metal Manufacturers Association, told The Day that the domestic producers had made sure they would have access to “compensatory” markets. Yet the problem obviously is that getting a foothold there will be anything but easy. Moreover, Premier Kinakh, addressing a cabinet meeting on March 13, stressed that there are “serious risks” in asserting an “irreversible further market development of the Ukrainian economy and improving the situation in the social sphere.”
That same day, Ukrainian metal manufacturers warned that raising the costs after the elections would not be tolerated, referring to the costs of transport and energy inputs. Serhiy Hryshchenko, state secretary of the Ministry of Industrial Policy, told a conference on the mining and smelting sector in Dnipropetrovsk that he “suspected” cost increases after the parliamentary campaign. He said in particular that the Ukrzaliznytsia railroad company intended to do just that. “It is possible that there will be new energy costs, starting April 1,” he declared.
A deputy to the ministry’s state secretary said he had received a letter from Volodymyr Boiko, director general of the Illich Metals Combine in Mariupol, to the effect that costs had already begun to rise. The result of the metal manufacturers’ counsel was a draft memorandum, concerning cabinet-manufacturer cooperation, similar to the one recently signed with the oil companies. This is evidence of some strengthening in the cabinet’s position and its determination to help improve Ukrainian products’ competitiveness. The big question (one which is, of course, constantly raised during various loose-tie discussions and backstage shoot-outs within the diverse pro-government bloc) is who will pay to sustain Ukraine’s metal manufacture. There are two principal consumers of railroad and energy resources: industries and people. Producers insist that prices are outdated. Yet if they are not to be raised for enterprises, they will have to be raised for the electorate – and only recently we heard solemn assurances that this will never happen. The third option is reaching into the monopolists’ pockets, as they need money for to re-equip. Ukraine could, however, lose even more by neglecting to upgrade its infrastructure from year to year.
