TEHRAN – Iran has liberalized exports of steel products until the end of spring in a bid to give an incentive to domestic producers, the Iranian deputy industry minister said on Sunday.  Ex­ports of steel products and ingots will be unlimitedly free till the end of Khordad month (June 21), Mohammad-Jafar Sarqini told IRNA.  Iran produced 14.071 million tons of crude steel in the first 11 months of 2013, a 6 percent rise compared to the same period in 2012, the World Steel Association said in its latest press release.  The country’s crude steel output stood at 1.375 million tons in November, up 12.5 percent compared to November 2012, ISNA reported. 

World crude steel production in November 2013 amounted to 127.364 million tons, an increa­se of 3.6 percent compared to the same month in 2012.   Iran’s crude steel production reached 14.89 million tons in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20.  Iran plans to increase its annual steel output to 55 million tons by the end of the Fifth Five-Year Develop­ment Plan (2015).

TEHRAN - Iran conducted $62.507 billion in trade of non-oil goods with other countries during the first nine months of the current calendar year which began on March 21, according to the latest report released by Iran’s Customs Admi­nis­tration.  The country exported $29.241 billion worth of non-oil goods (including gas conden­sates) and imported $33.266 billion of non-oil goods during the 9-month period.  Exports and imports fell by 7.7 percent and 16.9 percent respectively compared to the same period in the previous year.  Iron ore concentrate, urea, and Methanol were the main goods exported, and rice, soy meal, and wheat were the main items imported.  China, Iraq, and the United Arab Emi­rates were the three top importers of Iranian goods during the period, while the United Arab Emirates, China, and India were the leading exporters of goods to Iran.

Previously, the Iranian Customs Administration reported that Iran’s trade balance with 96 coun­tries was positive in the first eight months of 2013.  The country traded [non-oil] goods with 182 countries in the 8-month period.  Iran had the highest positive trade balance with Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Egypt, and Azerbaijan, according to the report.  In July 2012, former Iranian Economy Minister Shamseddin Hosseini said Iran conducted economic trans­actions with 150 countries in the previous Iranian calendar year (March 2011-March 2012). And about 80 countries transited their products through Iran, he added.  Iran continues trading with the world at a brisk pace, even though certain countries are currently trying to create obs­tacles in order to hinder the country’s economic progress, the finance minister said.  Iran ex­por­ted around $43.7 billion worth of non-oil goods in the previous Iranian calendar year and imported about $61.8 billion worth of non-oil goods to hit the unprecedented mark of $105 billion in annual trade.

Im Monat Azar (22 November – 21. Dezember) lagen die Preise in den Städten nach Angaben der iranischen Zentralbank 29,6% höher als im Vergleichsmonat des Vorjahres.  Produkte waren 33,6% teurer, Dienstleistungen 24,1% und die Kosten für Wohnen, Energie und Strom stiegen um 20,7%.  Bei den Waren zeigten Lebensmittel mit 34,4% und Kleidung mit 39,8% den höchsten Preisanstieg. Zieht man die Preise der letzten 12 Monate in Betracht, so lag die Inflationsrate in dem Zeitraum bei duchschnittlich 39,3%.

A legislator said Iran earned $20 billion from oil sales in the first seven months of the current Ira­nian year (21 March-23 October). Ali Mohammad Ahmadi, a member of Majlis Planning and Bud­get Committee, also told Tasnim News Agency on Monday that Iran’s oil export revenues ex­ceeded $23 billion, of which $20 billion were received in the same period. “During the first se­ven months of this year, a daily average of 2,722,000 barrels of oil have been produced, with the daily amount of oil exports standing at 935,000 barrels a day in the same period,” he ad­ded.  Ahmadi noted that the average price of Iranian crude during the period was $103 per bar­rel.  

On December 4, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Iran’s oil exports could be back to pre-sanctions level in a few months. “We have no technical difficulties to expand our ex­ports and to return to 4 millions barrels per day (bpd),” he said, stressing that increasing ex­ports is our right. On the time required for Iran to return its production to the pre-sanctions le­vels, the Iranian oil minister predicted that it would be the beginning of the next Iranian year (to start March 21, 2014). Iran’s crude oil exports dropped from 2.5 million bpd in 2011 to 1.2 million bpd in 2012, according to the minister.  In August, Zanganeh said the top priority of his ministry was to raise the country’s “oil production capacity” to 4 million barrels a day.  “Increa­sing Iran’s oil output will boost (the country’s) bargaining power in international bodies like OPEC, so the oil production capacity must increase immediately to above four million bpd by the end of the current year,” he said.