Prime minister Ibrahim Mehleb signed an agreement with steel factories to maintain price levels, after imposing a temporary import tariff on steel rebars, according to the Chamber of Metallurgical Industries (CMI) chairman Gamal Abd El Kader.
CMI at the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) has requested Trade, Industry, and SMEs Minister Fakhry Abdel Nour to increase the import tariff to 15 –18 percent from the current 7.3 percent, Abd El Kader said.
In September, Egyptian steel companies added an extra LE115 per ton, which caused prices to reach an average of LE 5,315.50 per ton, while imported steel was at LE4,900 per ton despite international stability in steel prices at $570 per ton.
The decline of the pound has affected many sectors that rely on imports, but the steel industry has been particularly badly hit. Around 95 percent of steel production costs are from imported materials, according to an Oxford Business Group report.
While natural gas shortages and subsidy removals have badly hit Egyptian steel and other major producers, the government has cut energy subsidies in the 2014/2015 budget.
