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Inside the MMZ Rybnitsa steelworks, the largest company in Pridnestrovie

RYBNITSA (Tiraspol Times) - After nearly 3 months of forced downtime, the MMZ Rybnitsa steelworks has resumed its exports. The downtime was caused by new Ukrainian border restrictions introduced without warning on 3 March. Still in force, the restrictions were designed to force MMZ and other Pridnestrovie-based companies to register under Moldovan tax- and customs jurisdiction.

In a humiliating move, but bowing to economic necessity, MMZ and other large companies of Pridnestrovie were forced to register in Moldova in order to break what they claim amounted to an economic blockade of the new and emerging country. They did so under explicit duress to be able to resume exports and not commit economic suicide. MMZ and most other firms, protesting the heavy-handedness of the Moldovan measures, only opted for a minimal 3 month temporary registration.

This sort of temporary permit only gives them the possibility of exporting to countries within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and not worldwide, but registering fully as Moldovan companies would be inacceptable and incompatible with the factual realities of the area: As observers have pointed out repeatedly, Moldova exercises no jurisdiction in Pridnestrovie, and can only exercise pressure when companies move their cargo beyond the borders of Pridnestrovie.

Pridnestrovie firm among world's top ten companies

The privately owned company exports nearly 2,000,000 tonnes of crude and rolled steel products every year and has a Lloyds of London certification. Annual turnover from this single company alone exceeds USD 500 million, creating jobs and growth for Pridnestrovie ever since the country became independent in 1990.

MMZ, built with the latest German technology in 1985, is the most modern steel foundry enterprise in the territory of the former USSR. It is one of the top five steel companies in all of Europe, and on a global scale it ranks among the world's ten best equipped steel producers. It specializes in processing of the scrap of ferrous metals into rolled steel, and its contribution to Pridnestrovie's state budget is considerable. In 2005, the plant produced a record volume of steel: 1.048 million tons (36 thousand tons more than in 2004) and 889 thousand tons of rolled stock (+100 thousand tons).

As part of the reform of Pridnestrovie's economy to Western-style, market based capitalism, the company was fully privatized. The MMZ is part of the Russian Metalloinvest holding, owned by Alisher Usmanov. Ownership of the company is now distributed as follows: 45% Rumney Trust, 45.6% EIM Energy Investment & Management Corporation and 9,4% held by individual shareholders.