Assessing the Depth and Position of Iran's Participation in the Global Value Chain of the Steel Industry

The majority of domestic studies on Iran’s steel industry have focused on production trends, nominal capacity, overall trade balance, or the effects of sanctions, with little attention given to stage‑wise analysis of the value chain or the nature of the country’s integration therein. Furthermore, a coherent analytical framework that combines the Revealed Comparative Advantage index at the level of disaggregated trade codes with indicators of participation in global value chains—based on value‑added data—is rarely observed. This identified gap underscores the necessity for a structural and multidimensional study in this domain. To analyze the type of integration, forward participation, backward participation, and position in the chain were applied. Findings show Iran is located in a "midstream and resource-based" position, rooted in access to mineral resources and energy. Also, in downstream loops and complex final products, Iran faces structural weakness in intensity and diversity of relative advantage. The results of participation indices indicate that although the Iranian steel industry is integrated into the global chain, the nature of this integration is mainly based on the export of intermediate and semi-finished products.