In the first nine months of the current Iranian year, March 21-December 21, 2017, Iran imported 1.51 million mt of finished steel, down 27% year on year, Iranian Steel Producers Association said on its website on Tuesday.
It imported only 38,000 mt of semi-finished products during the period, down 90% year on year, ISPA added.
Iran also imported 697,000 mt of hot-rolled coil, down 48% year on year. This included 519,000 mt of hot-rolled coil with up to 3 mm thickness, down 50% on the year, and 178,000 mt of hot-rolled coil with more than 3 mm thickness, down 40% on the year.
Imports of cold-rolled coil rose 6% year on year to 512,000 mt during the period and while rebar imports fell 31% to 40,000 mt, ISPA said.
The government cut import duties on different steel products in December, but import are still quite low.
"The currency devaluation is still a barrier for imports of billet but imports of low thickness hot rolled stripes with a thickness of 2 mm or lower are expected to increase within the next few months," a trader said.
The import duty on semi-finished steel was reduced from 15% to 5%, while that on most hot rolled strips was cut from 20% to 15%.
For hot-rolled coil below 3 mm thickness, the duty was halved from 20% to 10%.
