Cement transportation volumes in Russia decreased by 11% in six months

he railways transported 11.4Mt of cement in the first half of 2020, down by 11% year-on-year from 12.4Mt in the first half of 2019. It has reported that the figure is the lowest in a decade, down by 33% from17.0Mt in the record first half of 2012.

The Commission for Entrepreneurs’ Rights has asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to change Council for Standardisation, Metrology and Certification (GOST) conformity assessment and cement certification rules requiring production and packaging of cement to be carried out by a single legal entity. The commission says that the restriction, introduced in September 2019, unfairly restrains smaller-scale producers, according to the Kommersant newspaper.

In an open letter to Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, Commissioner Boris Titov said, “This preferential treatment of full-scale enterprises negatively affects the formation of a competitive environment. The purpose of cement certification is to confirm quality and safety, which clearly do not depend on production and packaging being carried out by a single legal entity.”