Despite the intention to remove export duty on pellets from the beginning of the current Iranian year (started on March 21, 2017) announced by Iran’s government, the measure is still in force.
However, local iron ore producers are asking for withdrawal of the duty taking into consideration that local demand in Iran cannot absorb all the pellet volumes.
Since the start of the current Persian year, export duty for pellets in Iran has remained unchanged – at the level of
15%, while concentrate and DRI are not subject to any tariffs.
Nevertheless, one of the largest Iranian pellet producers, Gol-e-Gohar Company, hopes for its cancellation and is negotiating with the Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade to get an exemption, which will let the producer sell material abroad.
The company is aiming to ship one batch per month (55,000 t), market sources informed Metal Expert.
The decision has not been finalized yet as well as possible terms of its announcement.
It is worth mentioning that pellets capacity in Iran reached 32 million t exceeding local consumption by at least 3 million t, according to Metal Expert’s estimation.
At the same time, exports of pellets may not exceed 600,000 t till the end of the current Persian year (March 21, 2017 – March 20, 2018).
“In case of any export of pellets happens in 2017, it would be provided by Gol-e-Gohar Company only because the products of other local producers are mostly consumed domestically,” Keyvan Jafari Tehrani, Head of International Affairs at IROPEX, told Metal Expert.
Iran increased pellet production by 17.3% to 25.8 million t in the last Iranian year (March 21, 2016 – March 20, 2017).
Mobarakeh Steel Company, Gol-e-Gohar Company, and Khouzestan Steel Company acquired the largest shares of pellet production – 28.3%, 28.1% and 23.6% out of total production, respectively.
Source: Metal Expert
