Egypt's Ahram Online has reported that the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry earlier this week launched an investigation regarding the impact of Turkish steel imports. The report suggested that the Turkish imports increased by 20 times from 3,000 mt to 60,000 mt in December following the termination of the safeguard investigation regarding rebar and wire rod imports in November, without any affirmative decision to impose a safeguard duty.
Turkish Steel Exporters' Association chairman Namık Ekinci informed SteelOrbis that no official statement has been delivered from the Egyptian authorities. Mr. Ekinci said that he does not expect Egypt to launch another investigation, adding that the Egyptian industry will be negatively impacted in the event of a new investigation as prices will increase.
In November 2012, the Egyptian government imposed a temporary import duty of 6.8 percent for seven months and at a minimum of EGP 299/mt ($43/mt) and in November this year the investigation was terminated without any affirmative decision to impose a safeguard duty.