Iran is currently witnessing currency depreciation which is impacting the import of steel in the nation. In the first nine months of the current Persian year (Mar 21 to Dec 21-2017), Iran imported 1.51 MnT of finished steel, down by 27% Y-o-Y against around 1.20 MnT imported in last year, Iranian Steel Producers Association reported. As per Bonbast, the currency has depreciated by around 9% in just 2 months.
Rasoul Khalifeh Soltani Secretary of Iranian Steel Association said “Due to new tariffs for importing steel products and at the same time exchange rates are increasing is making imports less economical.”
Referring to the current situation of steel import tariffs, which had somewhat declined in some steel products, he said: “Steel currently has no tariffs, and the existing tariffs are also defensible, because the price of the currency is depreciating and with tariffs set, Imports of products produced domestically are not economical.”
The secretary of Iran Steel Producers Association added “Regarding the reduction of import tariffs for some types of steel sheets, it should be said that the production of these products in the country was low, which led to a decrease in the import tariffs for some of these products within one year by making imports cheaper for these products. It should be ensured that this pressure does not go into production.
Rasoul Khalifeh Soltani, stating that the export process is in line with the stated objectives, said: “For export of steel products, we predicted exports will increase in three sub categories of steel, which includes sponge iron, semi-finished steel and finished steel products.
Currency depreciation is making export profitable by bringing the better realization of USD against IRR. Iran is one of the largest exporter of Steel in MENA region; has exported around 6.20 MnT of steel during first nine months of current Persian year (21 Mar-21 Dec’17), registered a growth of 48% Y-o-Y.
According to ISPA statistics, in the first 9 months of current Persian year, export of sponge iron was around 0.50 MnT, semi-finished exports was around 4.60 MnT, and exports of finished steel products was around 1.07 MnT. It can be said by the end of the year, the exports of steel will reach 8 MnT.
Inputs taken from Minews
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