Tehran, Iran, March 7
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Iran’s steel export is threatening the market in Europe. The EU, which just managed to ward off China’s steel dumping, is now looking for a
replacement for China from a number of countries including the Islamic Republic.
The European Steel Association (EUROFER) has warned that the explosive growth in exports from third countries, such as Iran, India, South Korea, Turkey and others, risks undermining the progress made in deploying trade defense tools to stabilize the industry against massive dumping from China.
“Imports now make up a share of 25% of the EU market, with imports having risen by 9% in the second half of 2016. This is a record high, despite the impact of trade defense measures in reducing the volume of Chinese imports into the EU. Chinese imports are being replaced by those from other countries. For example, Iranian exports of steel to the EU were 117,000 tons in 2012. They have since exploded to 1.1 million tons in 2016. This is a nearly ten-fold increase”, said Director General of EUROFER Axel Eggert, EUROFER reported March 6.
By the end of 2015, steel production in Iran stood at 16.1 million tons, placing the country 14th among steel-producing countries, according to World Steel Association.
Iran’s Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade figures show output rose toward 18 million tons in 2016 and the government plans to become the world's six by 2025 by boosting the output capacity to 55 million tons/year. This would put Iran well above Turkey (ranked ninth in the world with 31.5 million tons in 2015), which presently out-produces all countries in the Middle East.
This flood of imports into Europe is happening at the same time as the global players in the steel market are beginning to come together to
combat global overcapacity in steel production. The global market is suffering from about 700 million tons of global overcapacity.
“As an open market, the EU has been targeted by foreign exporters of cheap, often unfairly dumped steel”, said Mr. Eggert.
If Iran’s grand ambition is achieved, Tehran would expect the industry, eight years from now, to be exporting 20-25 million tons/year, far exceeding what is shipped now.