Baku, Azerbaijan, July 28
By Farhad Daneshvar – Trend:
The recent EU plan to impose 33 percent duties on Iranian, Ukrainian, Russian and Brazilian hot-rolled steel exports has caused concerns in Tehran over the industry’s future.
However an Iranian expert suggests that the Islamic Republic could get rid of the expected duties through forming joint ventures with the European firms.
Mehrdad Emadi, a consultant at the UK-based Betamatrix International Consultancy, has told Trend that the decision on restricting the bloc’s imports of steel would leave a negative impact on Iran’s economic situation as the country plans to boost its steel exports more than 30 percent in the coming years in order to contribute to the Middle Eastern nation’s economic plans to boom its economy.
This is while many consider the EU as the largest market for Iranian steel as the county is incapable of competing with its regional rivals due to production costs.
However forming joint industrial projects with the European firms could pave the way for Iranian steel to reach the EU market aimed at being used in the production of new goods and products, Emadi believes.
After imposing the 35.9-percent duties on China’s steel export to EU in June, the block plans to impose 33 percent duties on Iranian, Ukrainian, Russian and Brazilian hot-rolled steel export.
Iran’s steel output over the first half of the current year has surged by 13.7 percent compared to the same period of time last year.
According to the latest data released by the World Steel Association, the Islamic Republic produced over 9.94 million tons of crude steel over the first six months of 2017.