Steel products export boom on horizon for Iran

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

The Iranian government is planning to boost the country's steel consumption per capita in the mid-term.

"We have this plan on agenda to increase per capita consumption of steel from 200 kilograms to 500 kilograms," Minister of Industry Mohammad Shariatmadari said.

In the meantime, businessmen in the field believe that a large portion of the increase will inevitably go into exports.

"There is little to be done about the domestic market. Virtually all of the added consumption should find a way to be exported," Bahador Ehramian, the CEO of Yazd Rolling Mill told Trend October 14.

Iran's major steelmakers exported over 4.12 million tons of crude steel and steel products in the nine months ending December 20, registering a 55 percent growth compared with last year's corresponding period.

Also, Ali Jafari, the head of Metal Products Association, told Trend that a large portion of the steel goods should be exported.

"The domestic market does have the capacity to absorb some forty percent of the products, because we already have companies that are importing steel products. However, the rest should be exported," Jafari noted.

Iran's steel output stood at 23 million tons in 2013. In 2016, however, it hit 31 million tons.

Iran is currently the world's 14th largest steelmaker.

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