Egypt's largest steelmaker Ezz Steel has announced its financial results for the first half of the current year, reporting a net loss of EGP 176 million ($24.6 million), compared to a net profit of EGP 302 million in the first half of 2013. The company's sales revenues in the given period amounted to EGP 10.3 billion ($1.44 billion), falling eight percent year on year, due to a significant decrease in export volumes, especially of long steel, as weakness in the international steel markets drove down realized selling prices and made it more attractive to sell into the domestic market.
In the first six months, Ezz Steel's sales, in terms of volume, totaled 2.3 million mt, declining nine percent year on year. In the given period, Ezz Steel's long steel production volume amounted to 1.9 million mt, falling four percent, while its flat steel production volume decreased by 10 percent to 451,825 mt, both year on year.
According to Ezz Steel, the gradual return to political stability following successful elections, in addition to the implementation of large-scale infrastructure projects, are expected to help in absorbing the burden of additional production costs deriving from drastic price increases of utilities in Egypt during 2014.