Iran’s Ministry of industries, mining and trade plans to ban or hike tariffs on iron ore exports from the upcoming Iranian year on March 21, according to the local media.
The move is aimed at supporting domestic steel production by reducing exports of unprocessed minerals.
Iran looks to achieve its target annual production of 55mn mt of steel, which requires 160mn mt of iron ore. Earlier, the ministry had imposed a 20-25pc tariff on exports iron ore and iron pellets effective Sep 23, 2019. Exports of iron ore had led to domestic steelmakers operating at lower capacity in the country.
In the first nine months of the Iranian year ending March 20, 2019, exports of iron ore from the country stood at 4mn mt.