Iran to impose iron ore export duty from March: report

2-exclusive

The Iranian government plans to impose a 10% export duty on non-concentrated iron ore from the beginning of the next Iranian year (March 21, 2018), according to a report by Steelprice, a domestic website close to the industry, citing Jafar Sargheini, a deputy at the mines and industries ministry.

The duty will also be increased from 10% to 15% within a year (from March 2019) and the government aims to impose another export duty on concentrated iron ore as well as on non-concentrated material, the report cited Sargheini as saying.

However, he did not announce the percentage of this duty nor the exact date of its introduction.

Iran also plans to eliminate the existing export duty on iron ore pellets, due to increases in production, according to Sargheini, who did not say when this would be put into effect. The export duty on pellets is currently 15%.

This is the third time the government has attempted to impose a duty on iron ore exports: previous attempts were unsuccessful due to relatively low iron ore market prices at the time, according to market sources.

Iran produced 20.8 million mt of pellet in the first eight months of the current Iranian year (to November 21), 26% more than the same period last year.

Production of iron ore concentrate also increased to 24.85 million mt in this period, an 18 % year-on-year increase, according to Iranian state mines and metals holding company Imidro.

Iran has announced that its policy is to reduce raw material exports, even though statistics show an increasing trend in iron ore exports. Iranian miners exported 12.57 million mt of iron ore during the eight-month period, up 11.8% year on year, mostly shipped to China, according to Imidro.

Source: PLATTS