Iran: Billet export allocations may drop as govt cancels export licenses of several mills

The Mining Industries Office of the Government of Iran Power, on 24 Aug'21, announced in a letter to the Export and Import Regulations Office the list of units sanctioned to export long steel products, as per Chilan Online.

However, the list includes names of only 18 companies, contrary to the list which was published in Jul'21. This list had consisted of 102 companies. This clearly means that 84 companies have lost their licenses to export long steel products and new restrictions have been imposed on the export of the same.

The export licenses are valid for three months from 1 Sept'21.

The Mining Industries Office has made the export license of long steel sections conditional on the supply of 70% of the companies' products on the commodity exchange. The companies which failed to meet this 70% supply ceiling in the first four months of this year have been excluded from the list of export licenses.

"At present, there are hardly any billet export allocations from Iranian mills due to the ongoing power outages. However, I feel, the export license of a renowned Iranian billet exporting company has not been renewed. Hence, billet export allocations will continue to remain on the lower side in the near term," an official from an Iranian mill informed SteelMint.

According to sources, a few of the companies whose export licenses have been cancelled include South Kaveh, Arfa Iron and Steel etc.

Iran's export volumes of billets and blooms in the first four months (21 Mar'21-20 Jul'21) of this Persian Year stood at 1.69 million tonnes (mn t), up by 26% compared to the corresponding period last year (CPLY).

Iran's export volumes of billets and blooms in the last Persian Year stood at 4.5 million tonnes (mn t). Iran's export of finished long steel was recorded at 2.19 mn t, out of which rebar occupied a share of 1.83 mn t.