Possible introduction of special duties on wire imports could slow down 4G adoption in villages – ACC

The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (ACC) calls on the members of the Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade to impartially and fairly consider the special investigation regarding the import of wires to Ukraine, regardless of the country of origin and export, taking into account the possible negative impact on several branches of the economy.

"In particular, the introduction of additional duties, according to the ACC member companies, will affect the investment capacity of mobile operators, including slowing down the penetration of new technologies (including 4G) in rural areas, as instead of investing in infrastructure, mobile operators will be forced to raise additional funds to pay additional duties. The energy sector will also be affected, as the cost of power cables used in the electricity sector is one of the tariff components for the provision of energy supply services," the ACC says on its website.

"Given that the possible introduction of special measures foreseen by Law will impact several sectors of the economy, ACC Ukraine calls to ensure the transparent, high-quality, and impartial consideration of the arguments provided by the participants of the investigation," the report says.

As reported, a special investigation into the import of wires to Ukraine, regardless of the country of origin and export, was initiated by the commission on July 24, 2020 at the initiative of PJSC Odesa cable plant Odeskabel and PJSC Plant Yuzhcable.

The objects of investigation are insulated wires, cables and other insulated electrical conductors without connecting parts; fiber-optic cables, composed of fibers with individual sheaths.

According to the State Customs Service, imports under general code 8544 "Insulated wires, cables and other insulated electrical conductors, fiber-optic cables" for the first half of this year amounted to 24,240 tonnes for $ 214.65 million (0.88% of total imports), while exports, respectively, 29,190 tonnes for $ 559.08 million (2.44% of total exports).

Among the countries from which most of these products are imported to Ukraine are Hungary (27.03%), Poland (17.14%) and China (14.89%), while Germany (23.71%), Poland (22.3%) and Romania (12.97%) are the main exporting country of Ukrainian products.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua