TEHRAN –Iran’s acting minister of industry, mining and trade says a committee meeting will be held this week for discussing issues related to the country’s steel market, Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.

According to Hossein Modares Khiabani, reviewing the ways of distributing steel products in the market and pricing the mentioned products according to economic formulas are among the main goals of the mentioned meeting.

“The meeting will be participated by steel products manufacturers so that the necessary amendments can be applied on the ways of supplying steel products and setting prices based on economic formulas,” Modares Khiabani said.

The official noted that the main goal of the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry is to ensure that in addition to supplying the raw materials needed by the steel industry’s downstream sector, exports of such products are also supported.

“In this regard, in addition to increasing steel production, the plan to increase exports of steel products in the current Iranian calendar year 1399 (started on March 20) will be pursued more seriously, and in this area, the Industry Ministry will provide assistance for producers and exporters.”

Following the Industry Ministry’s new policies, steel products are not going to be allowed to be traded as capital goods, and new mechanisms will be designed to make sure these products will be available to real consumers and the downstream industries, the official stressed.

Last week, the Islamic Republic of Iran's Customs Administration (IRICA) announced that the government has obliged the country’s steel companies to offer at least 60 percent of their annual production at the commodity exchange market.

As reported, steel ingot producers must also plan for 25 percent of their remaining production to be allocated for exports, and the rest will also be set aside for long-term contracts or exports.

Following the mentioned announcement, the government was criticized by the country’s steel producers interrupting the exports from this sector and preventing the producers from supplying the foreign revenues they need.

In its latest report, the World Steel Association (WSA) announced that Iran’s crude steel production increased by 30 percent in 2019 while the average global growth in this sector stood at 3.5 percent.

Based on the WSA report, Iran produced 31.9 million tons of the mentioned commodity during 2019 compared to the last year’s nearly 24 million tons.

EF/MA