YEREVAN. – Armenia’s accession to the—Russia-led—Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) will force to think about new means for importing rebar, Metex CJSC CEO Haykaz Bakhshetsyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

While in the past there was a free trade agreement between Armenia and Ukraine as well as the CIS member countries, once Armenia joined the EEU, a 5-percent customs duty is set in the country for the rebar imported from Ukraine.

Bakhshetsyan noted that importing rebar from Russia is not profitable, since the rebar plants in Ukraine are closer to the ports, from where the rebar is exported to Armenia via the Black Sea and Georgia.

“The Ukrainian rebar could cost much less than the Russian [rebar] even in the case of the [customs] duty,” Haykaz Bakhshetsyan said. “We don’t yet have a ready scheme; we need to think [about it].”