The domestic steel rebar prices in Egypt have made another significant upward leap, reflecting mills’ bullish sentiments. The tough currency situation is still the main reason for the majority of price decisions in recent months. Particularly, the persistent crises with the availability of foreign currency in Egypt have resulted in a certain shortage of raw material purchases, which in turn has affected the production rates in Egypt in a negative way. “There are no US dollars, and so no production efficiency. Lots of plants stopped and [currently] the availability of rebar is less versus demand,” a large Egyptian producer told SteelOrbis. It is worth mentioning that, although end-user demand in the country has remained at a rather decent level, there have been no spikes or particular optimism regarding construction activity prospects.
Today, March 20, Egypt’s largest steel mill Ezz Steel has announced its official domestic offer for rebar at EGP 32,135/mt ex-works, which is EGP 2,850/mt higher that the price level settled early this month. As per the US dollar price equivalent based on $1 = EGP 30.1, the producer’s offer increased by $104/mt to $936/mt ex-works. Local mill Suez Steel announced its domestic rebar price at EGP 32,050/mt ($934/mt) ex-works, having made the same adjustments. Some other local steel mills are taking their time to adjust their pricing.
While the local rebar prices have been heading for record levels, the workable export levels have remained under pressure from low demand and quite high competition. Particularly, the rebar and wired prices from Egypt for May shipments have been voiced this week at $690-710/mt FOB depending on the supplier, down around $10/mt over two weeks. “European demand is yet to recover, so we are focusing on some African business, but the opportunity to increase prices is not there. The difference [with local prices] is big, but export is the way to get currency,” a producer told SteelOrbis.
Dollar-based prices do not include 14 percent VAT.