The restricted products include reinforcing bars, wire rods and flat steel products, as well as steel pipes and fittings, profiles, iron and steel construction materials, iron-steel wire, cement, aviation and jet fuel and metal processing machinery. It was reported that the measure will remain in effect until Israel declares a ceasefire in Gaza and allows an uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, in the January-February period this year, Turkey exported 49,990 mt of rebar and 11,387 mt wire rod to Israel. In the given period, Israel was Turkey’s second and fourth main market for reinforcing bar and wire rod exports, respectively.

As a result, 15 percent export duties from India on major longs and flat steel products, as well as pig iron, have been lowered to zero, while the export duty of 45 percent on pellets has also been scrapped. The export duty on iron ore lumps and fines with less than 58 per cent Fe content has been reduced to zero, while that on iron ore with Fe content more than 58 percent has been reduced to 30 percent from 50 percent earlier. High export duties were imposed six months ago to help redirected some needed volumes to the local Indian market, and this led to a significant reduction in exports and the lower competitiveness of Indian mills, at a time when more Asian suppliers wanted to increase their export market share.

In other changes to Indian tariffs, an import duty of 2.5 percent has been imposed on anthracite, PCI, coking coal and ferronickel used by the steel industry and five percent duty on imported coke and semi-coke, from zero earlier.

The 146 products include reinforcing bars, wire rods and profiles along with HRC, HR sheet and plate, stainless steel products and some kinds of pipes. The first four digits of the HS codes of the affected steel items are 7205, 7209, 7210, 7212, 7214, 7217, 7219, 7220, 7221, 7222, 7223, 7225, 7226, 7227, 7228, 7229, 7301, 7302, 7303, 7304, 7305, 7306 and 7307.

The execution time shall be defined by the date of export indicated on the customs declaration form of the export goods.

The official document, signed on August 31, implies the total allowed export volume of 1.009,2 million mt of scrap for the period from September 1 to December 31 of the current year. The Ministry of the Industry and Trade will be responsible for the distribution of quota between the exporting regions, based on the total export volumes of each within January 1, 2016 – December 31, 2018, multiplied by the assigned index, which is set from 0.5 to 1.2 depending on the region.

According to market sources; the Iranian government will only allow steel producers and the producers who have official representatives in foreign countries to export reinforcing bars, wire rods, angles and beams.

According to Reuters, among the conditions that firms in both the cement and steel sectors will have to meet in order to export goods is payment of the difference in energy costs between the local and international market. Reuters quoted Mohammed Alomran, a member of the Saudi Economic Association, as stating that the companies which will likely benefit from the reported lift of the export ban are those close to the sea as sea transportation is cheaper.