In brief: metinvest pushes for additional consultations on iron ore mining rent CIS / Iron ore

Metinvest unveiled its official position on the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopting the first reading of a draft law to increase the rent payment for iron ore mining among other changes. The company insists that the government should conduct additional consultations with market players and independent experts, since the current draft law will lead to an unjustified rise in fiscal burden on the mining and metallurgical industry. “No country takes rent payment from more marginal products instead of mined ore, so we find this suggestion preposterous. We are sure that taxation should support and not suppress the output of high value-added products,” Metinvest said in a statement. The new law suggests an increase in the rent payment from 8% to 10% with the cost of merchant product (concentrate, sinter, pellets) with 62-67% Fe content as tax base instead of raw ore. According to Metal expert data, Metinvest, one of Ukraine’s biggest iron ore exporters, shipped

4.6 million t of pellets (+5% year-on-year) and 13.5 million t of concentrate (+29% y-o-y)  in  January-october 2019.