Government-Controlled Steel  Pricing Policy at IME Censured

The Industries Ministry on Tuesday announced a controversial policy based on which steel products have to be sold at the Iran Mercantile Exchange at prices equivalent to 70% in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) markets.
The announcement was made by the minister, Alireza Razm-Hosseini, who insisted that the news instructions must be fully upheld, IRNA reported.
The plan to intervene in the market and control steel prices has become a topic of hot debate among government officials, steel manufacturers and capital market authorities.  
Policy and decision makers argue that such measures would “reduce the final price of steel in the domestic market and support end consumers”. But there is serious concern that such moves in essence have had the opposite effect and in the past  filled the coffers of avaricious middlemen and given rise to rent-seeking.