A Hard Deal to Sell

With the restriction of Iran’s steel imports, domestic manufacturers will be obliged to utilize the idle capacity for steel production as well as create new capacities, to ensure that the market’s demand is met by next year. Over the last nine months, Iran has imported two million tons of steel from Central Asian states, which simply "dump" their products in the market, putting pressure on domestic manufacturers. Despite Iran’s "antidumping" laws, Central Asian manufacturers easily export their products at prices lower than what domestic manufacturers can possibly compete with.

The Cabinet has decided to replace the 750 rials ($0.09) tax on steel imports with a tariff imposed by customs. Considering the cost of producing steel domestically, the tariff rate to be imposed will be fixed at 35% from next year, pursuant to an agreement between steel manufacturers and the Ministry of Industries and Mines.

During his comments, Head of the Commission for Steel Manufacturers, Taghi Bahrami said that even European countries have allocated quotas to the steel importers to support their domestic manufacturers.

Managing Director of Isfahan Iron Smelting Company, Masoud Ebka, believes it is necessary to hold conferences for the adoption of a comprehensive approach to industries generally and the steel industry specifically. He explained that the industrial conferences should address the three important topics of: pollutants elimination, research and achieving genuine value addition. It is hoped that these conference will result in the reduction of steel production costs.