“It should be expensive”: miners explain why Ukraine needs an export duty on natural stone

Ukraine is introducing a new export duty on decorative stone. Oleksandr Siomak, director of Ukrainian mining company Holovynskyi Trading House, told the United by Mining forum that this would not halt or reduce Ukrainian exports.

“We are like a small Brazil. Zhytomyr region alone contains 40% of the building and decorative stone. We have plenty to choose from and plenty to build with. There is nothing frightening about this; our stone is loved around the world,” he noted.

According to Siomak, the duty will add only a few percentage points to the price, while Ukrainian stone is undervalued.

“Those few percentage points will also go towards taxes that Ukraine needs today,” he said.

He added that Ukraine possesses vast resources of building and decorative stone with no equivalents elsewhere in the world.

“People have bought it and will continue to buy it, because there are no substitutes. There is no stone in the world like Ukrainian labradorite or Ukrainian granite,” he stressed.

He argues that Ukraine currently sells its stone very cheaply compared with other countries that have their own resources. That is why he supports the export duty.

“Italy, Brazil and India treat their stone as a national asset, protecting and valuing it. For some reason, we sell ours as raw material for next to nothing. I would very much like to change that, so our stone is treated like Italian marble and priced accordingly,” the business representative added.

According to Siomak, mining companies currently face numerous staffing, energy and logistics problems.

In June, the Verkhovna Rada adopted law No. 15111-d, which introduces, among other measures, an export duty of €0.30 per kilogram on stone under Ukrainian customs classification group 2516, including granite, gabbro, labradorite, basalt and other rock types. The duty applies to unprocessed blocks. Sawn slabs, polished slabs and finished products will be exempt. The aim is to encourage producers to shift towards exporting processed products. However, the president has yet to sign the law.