The Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB) has announced that Egypt has terminated its safeguard investigation regarding rebar and wire rod imports launched in late November 2012, without any affirmative decision to impose a safeguard duty.
Turkey's rebar export activity to Egypt, which has been one of its most important export destinations, has been at a standstill for about a year now. In 2012, Turkey exported about 458,000 mt of rebar to Egypt, while the export volume in the last quarter of 2012 was only 30,000 mt, with the temporary duty coming into force.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, the Egyptian government imposed a temporary import duty of 6.8 percent on rebar, upon requests from local steel producers, to protect the domestic industry. The import duty remained in force until June 20, at a minimum of EGP 299/mt ($43.4/mt).