Keyvan J Tehrani, Senior International Market Analyst of the Steel and Raw Materials: China is looking for dumping of steel productsE/ urope and other countries’ efforts to establish anti-dumping laws
The steel industry experienced very special conditions this year (from March 20, 2024) onwards, due to the circular approved by the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade at the end of last Iranian year, according to which ” “All exporters of the chain had to hand over their export currency to the central bank at the government price (Nima Exchange Rate)”; This had a negative impact on exports, and the total export volume of the steel chain decreased significantly, The senior international market analyst of the steel and raw materials said.
The 14th new government approved at the end of August this year (half of August) that exporters can use their currency to import machinery and equipment or sell them at an agreed price to steel and mining partner companies to import machinery and equipment, if needed, Keyvan Jafari Tehrani added.
There was no prohibition to sell export currency in 1402 (last Iranian year) and anyone could sell this currency by mutually agreed rate close to black market or could have even taken action to import gold, But the stop created by the new rule from the beginning of this year caused us to face a significant decrease in the export of upstream products, including iron ore, concentrate, pellets, as well as sponge iron (DRI) and hot briquette iron (HBI); intermediate products including billet, bloom and slab; and downstream products such as rebar, Hot Roll Coil (HRC) and even beams in the first 5 months of this year, The senior international market analyst of the steel and raw materials reminded.
It is unlikely to be able to compensate for this decrease in exports in the remaining seven months of this Iranian year, due to the unfavorable conditions of the world market and the loss of the good working season again, he told.
Now the price of all products of the China market and subsequently all over the world are among the lowest prices; For example, the price of rebar has reached the lowest price in 2016 and the price of iron ore has reached the lowest price in the last 22 months, Jafari said.
He pointed to the export of Chinese steel products has been increased and said: Today, the China government is trying to implement the new standard for the production of rebar and construction products from September 25, 2024, and all of their goals are to sell all the stock of billet, rebar and other construction products at a lowest price.
Jafari Tehrani added: This underselling has caused the prices to reach their minimum price and even China has put pressure on the prices of India, CIS countries and Turkey.
“Now the China has started to export to Europe and have put even European steelmakers under price pressure.”, he told.
The senior international market analyst of the steel and raw materials added: Nowadays, many countries are trying to impose anti-dumping rules as CVD (Countervailing Duty) regarding the import of Chinese steel products, and we will soon see the enactment of these laws. Even countries such as Egypt and some countries in the MENA region are seeking to establish these rules to prevent the import of cheap Chinese products to support their steel industries.
As we have seen, cheap Chinese products such as Hot Roll Coil are being imported in Iran, which is causing damage to the country’s steel industry, and the authorities should think of a solution in this regard, he said.