Businessmen in Egypt’s rebar industry expect the price of a tonne of locally produced rebar to increase by anywhere from EGP 120 to EGP 150 by the beginning of January 2013.
The Ministry of Agriculture will continue to enforce the policy enacted last month, imposing a 6.8% protectionist fee on imported rebar at a minimum rate of EGP 299 per tonne.
According to a report released by the Metal Industries Chamber of the Federation of Industries, the price of scrap metal rose last week from USD 380 per tonne to USD 383 per tonne.
Mr Mohamed Hanafi executive director of the Metal Industries Chamber, expected the price of steel to increase by EGP 120 per tonne during January 2013. This would be the result of a rise in both the price of billet and energy used to produce steel.
Mr Hanafi said that “High fees imposed by the Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade on steel imports would not have a large effect on the local market, but that they rather sought to enable local companies to be able to compete in international markets.”
Mr Ahmed al-Zayni, president of the Public Division of Building Resources at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, expected the price of steel to increase by EGP 150 pounds by January 2013. He attributed this to the monopolistic practices of businessmen and local distributors.
Meanwhile, after the decision was made to impose new fines on imported steel, factories raised the price of steel for consumption from EGP 4,400 to EGP 4,600 per tonne.
