MOSCOW (ICIS) -- Russian protectionism which aims to shield domestic polymer producers is in fact damaging local polymer converters, said a senior SABIC executive on Thursday.
Making imported polymer more expensive for Russian converters than for those in other Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries like the Ukraine, would mean that imported finished plastic products would be able to undercut Russian products in their home market, Geert Drummen, CEO Eastern Europe for SABIC, told delegates at the ICIS-MRC Russian Polymers Summit in Moscow.
This would eventually be to the detriment of domestic polymer producers, he said.
Drummen added he was hopeful that Russia's entry to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) would help to reduce the level of protectionism.