The steel industry is hopeful but plagued by unfinished problems.

Nazli Sahraei, Commercial Director of Kaveh Tikmeh-dash Steel Industries, said about the company’s presence at the Iran Metafo 1403 (2024) exhibition: Kaveh Tikmeh-dash Steel Industries’ presence at the Tehran Metafo International Exhibition is a good opportunity to introduce the company’s production capacities to the domestic and export markets.
He continued: With a capacity to produce 300,000 tons of rebar per year in various sizes and grades in accordance with Iranian, European and Russian standards, this company has tried to meet part of the domestic needs and take important steps in exporting quality products to different countries.
Referring to the problems of steel industry activists, Sahraei said: Of course, it goes without saying that our efforts and those of most steel industry activists, especially in the private sector, in addition to creating new markets, are to maintain the current market and customers. Because thanks to the contractionary policies of the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance in the field of foreign exchange, we have lost most of our previous customers, and competition in global markets has become more and more difficult, despite major competitors such as Turkey and China.
He added: “Unfortunately, since the beginning of 1403, steel industry activists have faced a major shock, which was the non-expert requirement and coercion of the Central Bank to fulfill 100 percent of foreign exchange obligations resulting from exports at a half rate, which in practice, due to the high price difference with the free dollar, the export statistics of companies, including Kaveh Tikmeh-Dash Steel, have almost reached zero, and this has led to the growth of exports by merchants with rental and disposable cards.”
Commercial Director of Kaveh Tikmeh-Dash Steel Industries stated: “In general, the problems of energy supply, which have always cast a shadow on production, and the control and management policies of the foreign exchange system with numerous and confusing directives this year, are considered the main problems of production units.”
This steel activist continued: “To solve this problem, promises have been made for more than 5 or 6 months to launch a foreign exchange exchange room to supply export currency.” Of course, if the demand (importer) in this foreign exchange room is not limited to the steel chain and the price discovery mechanism is implemented correctly, it can be a source of hope for export prosperity. Otherwise, due to the tying of steel section exports to company imports and the possibility of saturation and low foreign exchange demand, it is feared that we will not achieve past export statistics and prosperity.
He added: Another issue is imports and the discussion of quotas, which this year has caused most of the order registrations to not reach the final result or clearance to be carried out with great delay.
Sahraei concluded: Even in many import files, after editing several times and encountering numerous errors when obtaining licenses and ultimately allocating foreign exchange, we are forced to enter outside the banking system and from the location of the foreign investor.