Expert-Grup

Interest Wears the Fez: Who Really Benefits from Ukraine's Anti-Dumping Duty on Moldovan Cement Imports and What Can Be Done

Politici de creștere economicăMonday, 29 July 20244379 views
Project:
Strengthening the Monitoring Capacity of Civil Society in Moldova

Automatically translated summary. The full text is available in Romanian.

Independent Think Tank “Expert-Grup” examines Ukraine's anti-dumping duty on cement imported from Moldova, introduced in 2019 and later prolonged. The note describes the circumstances of the dispute, questions whether the Ukrainian decision meets World Trade Organization rules, and urges Moldovan authorities to defend national trade interests more actively.

On 21 May 2019 Ukraine adopted a decision, in force from 27 June 2019, imposing a five-year anti-dumping duty of 94.46% of customs value on Moldovan clinker and Portland cement, together with Russia and Belarus. It followed a request from Ukrainian cement producers. Although Ukraine pledged to lift the duty by the end of 2023, it remains, and in 2024 it was extended pending a new investigation.

The authors do not assess whether dumping occurred, but find the procedure contestable under WTO rules. Cumulative assessment of three countries was unjustified, since Moldova did not export clinker to Ukraine in 2017-2018. The “normal value” was benchmarked against Ukrainian producers' prices, not the exporter's home market. Moldova's 2019 export price to Romania (USD 67 per tonne) was only 13% above that to Ukraine (USD 59), far below the 94% margin. The note recommends greater use of WTO dispute settlement.

View the original in Romanian