Iran continues to search for new markets and ways to increase their capacity

We discussed the Iranian steel market with Bahador Ahramian, Member of the Board of the Iranian Steel Producers Association.

WE AIM TO EXCEED 40 MILLION TONS PER YEAR

Ahramian said, “As you know, the production capacity in Iran continues to expand. The expectation is that we will exceed the annual capacity of 40 million tons. But in terms of reaching the utilization rate, the problems we have are bit of shortages of natural gas and electricity which actually did hold back the production for the past two years but once those are past, we believe that we can easily pass 40 million tons of production in Iran. Although the main products in the Iranian market are billets and semi-finished products, we hope to gradually export finished products instead of semi-finished products. However, at the moment, the most important trend, especially in the export sector, is semi-finished products.'

“In 2023, I believe that we will export between 20 and 50 million tons. Although there is more emphasis on semi-finished products, long products will be the second export item.” he added.

Expressing Iran’s search for new markets, Ahramian said “The export markets we are currently targeting are quite broad-based. Iran currently exports to nearly 40 countries, most of them in South Asia, but our wish is to open up to all markets.'

INTEREST RATES AND ENERGY COSTS WILL AFFECT THE STEEL SECTOR IN 2023

Regarding the expectations for 2023, Ahramian concluded his words by saying, “2023 will be an interesting year, but I think the main factors affecting the sector will be macroeconomic, as you know, rising interest rates, possibly rising energy costs, as well as the situation in Europe hit the industry everywhere. These two factors may continue to affect the industry negatively in 2023.”