OREANDA-NEWS. April 12, 2010. Ukraine expects to agree on duty-free Ukrainian pipes deliveries to Russia in the nearest future. This announcement was made by Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov during his appearance on television with comments on the results of his visit to Moscow. The Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also confirmed that Russia stands ready to lift restrictions on Ukrainian pipes imports.

Millennium Capital: obviously, duty-free Ukrainian pipes import is one of the issues in a large-scale bargaining in the Ukraine-Russian negotiations that was initiated following the recent reshuffle in the Ukrainian power structure, with Russia having more bargaining powers than Ukraine in these negotiations. The Ukrainian government has to think hard as to what to offer to Russia in exchange for trade concessions in the pipes market, as well as in other areas of Ukrainian exports and imports to and from Russia. However, Millennium Capital sees this news as POSITIVE for Ukrainian pipe producers (<NVTR UK BUY>, <NITR UK N/R>, <HRTR UK N/R>, <DTRZ UK N/R>), because the Russian market is extremely important for them.