Turkey's Steel Exporters' Association (CIB) organized a visit to Egypt on January 12-14 led by Turkey's deputy economy minister Mustafa Sever and including the participation of CIB chairman Namık Ekinci, steel company executives and economy ministry officials, with the aim of expressing Turkish opposition to the 6.8 percent import duty imposed by the Egyptian government on rebar.
At a meeting with Egyptian industry and foreign trade minister Hatem Salih, CIB chairman Ekinci said that the duty in question will affect Turkey's steel sector the most since Turkey is responsible for 80 percent of Egypt's total rebar imports. The CIB chairman added that "the duty on rebar imports negatively affects the excitement aroused by the free trade agreement which was aimed at increasing trade between the two countries."
At a press conference held after official meetings, Turkish deputy minister Sever and Turkey's ambassador to Egypt Hüseyin Avni Botsalı drew attention to the possible damage in Egyptian-Turkish relations as well as to the Egyptian housing market. At the same press conference, CIS chairman Ekinci said that the import duty would harm the Egyptian steel sector's competitive ability even though it provides extra income for Egyptian steel producers in the short term.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, in late November last year the Egyptian authorities announced their decision to impose a 6.8 percent rebar import duty for a period of almost seven months, following requests made by local Egyptian steel producers.