Iran plans to raise steel output after sanctions cut imports 30%

Bloomberg: Iran plans to increase steel output, becoming an exporter of the metal, after U.S.-led sanctions over the country’s nuclear program reduced imports by 30 percent, an executive from the Islamic republic’s Esfahan Steel Co. said. Bloomberg

By Ilya Khrennikov

Iran plans to increase steel output, becoming an exporter of the metal, after U.S.-led sanctions over the country’s nuclear program reduced imports by 30 percent, an executive from the Islamic republic’s Esfahan Steel Co. said.

“Imports became difficult,” Mansour Yazdizadeh, deputy managing director at Esfahan, told a Metal Bulletin conference in Moscow, as sanctions on international payments were enforced.

Iran plans to raise steel output to 55 million metric tons by 2025, from 13.4 million tons last year, when it imported 5.4 million tons, Yazdizadeh said. The country’s steel consumption is set to more than double to 44 million tons by 2025, he said.

Russian companies including OAO Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel and Metalloinvest (METIN) have been supplying steel to Iran. MMK failed to complete a deal to buy a stake in Esfahan Steel in 2008.