The Russian iron and steel industry stands to lose up to $800 million a year if and when the European Union passes a carbon tax law, Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Viktor Evtukhov said on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th November, 2020) The Russian iron and steel industry stands to lose up to $800 million a year if and when the European Union passes a carbon tax law, Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Viktor Evtukhov said on Thursday.
The EU is planning to adopt the so-called Carbon Border Adjustment mechanism that imposes a tax on imported products from countries that do not follow the same environmental regulations as EU member states, that leads to producing cheaper products as well as higher CO2 emissions.
"Introduction of such a tax will impact about 13 million [metric] tonnes of Russian steel export to the European Union. It is one of the biggest consumers of steel, [and] the overall cost is over $7 billion. Thus, if it will be over 60 Euros [$71], as it is currently being discussed, it [the loss] will be about $780-800 million annually," Evtukhov told reporters at a summit on the metal and mining industry of Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States.
In September, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin said that Russian exporters could lose at least three billion euros a year because of the carbon tax.
