The economic sanctions imposed by the United States against Iran since early August have had direct and indirect negative effects not only on the Middle Eastern country's steel exports but also on its domestic consumption.
This may lead to lower steel output by the country in the future, Fastmarkets was told on Thursday November 29.The first tranche of sanctions imposed by the US was intended to prevent Iran from using the dollar for trade, and to throttle the movement in the Middle Eastern country of steel products, both semi-finished and finished steel, as well as gold, aluminium, coal and graphite, and to prohibit sales of road vehicles and aircraft.The US also imposed secondary sanctions that affect other countries that deal with Iran."All the major steel-consuming sectors of Iran's economy are in trouble now. The value [of the Iranian rial] has almost halved since May, when the US announced its intention to impose sanctions. People cannot afford anything, so construction and car manufacture are stalling," a local source told Fastmarkets.On November 28, $1 could be traded for IRR11,950 in the country's unofficial "free" market, compared with...