(Minews) - Metal Export's Iran Steel Perspectives Conference will take place in September 15, 2014 in Baku, Azarbaijan.
The Conference provides an opportunity for steel market participants to meet and network with their colleagues from steel mills, trading companies, service providers and end-users.
The city of Baku was chosen as a conference location due to its unique location in the heart of Caspian Sea region, which connects Iran and its steel suppliers - Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Another important player in Caspian steel market - Turkey - is also in close proximity.
Mohammad Khandadshpour, National Iranian Steel Company (NISCO) Managing Director, is amonge speakers of the conference.
According to Anton Bobanev, a Project Leader at Metal Expert, Iran is a "dark horse" of today's global steel market.
In his presentation at the World Steel Association ECON meeting (March 2014), Anton said that despite significant constraint on economy, caused by sanctions, Iran shows stable industrial growth. Many new steel capacities are coming (or planned) on-stream. Crude steel production is growing rapidly, and flat products output became a current driver of the steel industry in Iran. Billet imports, which used to be quite high, has now almost stopped due to being replaced by domestic production. However, imports of finished steel remain an important factor.
All this lead to conclusions that Iran has a huge potential, constrained by political factors only. Sustainable steel market growth in case of sanctions lift can be expected.
Iran plans to increase its steel capacity from 20mn tonnes per year (mntpy) to 55mntpy by 2025. Last year, Iran's crude steel output witnessed a growth rate of 8.8 percent and reached to 15.6 mnt while steel products output totaled over 16.5 mnt.
