Tehran, Iran, February 19
By Mehdi Sepahvand –- Trend:
The first shipment of Japan-made iron sheets has arrived in Iran’s Imam Khomeini Port, IRIB news agency reported February 19.
Iwami is a ship by the Japanese shipping company N.Y.K and has carried broad iron sheets to Iran.
It was recently known that Mobarakeh Steel Company, a major still firm in Iran, has been importing the products that it is supposed to produce, a shift of function that indicates serious problems in the steel industry in the country.
It was announced in January that the government had been forced to reduce tariffs on steel sheet imports because domestic producers were unable to function.
On the other hand, major Iranian producers, most of which enjoying other-than-private influence, had started to export their products instead of delivering them to the domestic market.
Criticism over the situation grew so tense that private sector associations had recently addressed President Hassan Rouhani in a letter to do something about it.
In their letter, the authors had complained that the darling, supposedly production companies had been selling raw material overseas for very low prices. They had added that some thousands of downstream companies were in favor of lifting tax exemptions for raw material exports.