TEHRAN: Iran has scrapped a plan to impose tariffs of between 5 and 10 percent on iron ore exports and may also abandon a 15 percent duty on shipments of iron ore pellets, used as a raw material in steelmaking, industry representatives said. Iran has been working to boost its domestic steel industry and European producers have complained it is selling into the EU market at less than fair value. The European industry has also accused the Iranians of using existing export tariffs on iron ore pellets in a protectionist way to maximise the amount of cheap ore available for domestic steelmakers. Keyvan Ja’fari Tehrani, head of international affairs at the Iranian Iron Ore Producers and Exporters Association, said Iran had planned to impose export duty on unprocessed iron ore or fines this month, but on March 10 it changed tack. “There’s no tax on export on iron ore lumps and no fines anymore,” he said, adding European opposition to the tariffs had played a role.
“Iran thought if it imposes duty on iron ore exports, it loses the chance to export steel to the EU,” he said, adding an existing 15 percent tax on pellet exports was also expected to be abandoned. He said Iran had taken its last shipment of iron pellets in January last year, and planned to start exporting between 100,000 and 200,000 tonnes of pellets per month from April, mostly to China. The EU is investigating alleged dumping of hot-rolled steel by producers in Iran as well as Brazil, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine. Iran has ambitious plans to develop its steel sector and has been seeking to attract foreign investment since it reached an international deal in 2015 to curb its nuclear programme in return for an easing of sanctions. But progress has been stalled by the difficulty of financing deals and investors have also been deterred by U.S. President Donald Trump’s hostility to the nuclear deal. Arshiya Sibia, analyst at CRU Group, said Iran’s steel output had grown by 9 percent last year, adding that because domestic demand was not strong, they had ramped up exports. Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development and Renovation (IMIDRO) did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
