The rapid strengthening of the US dollar against the Egyptian pound has impacted the local hot rolled coil (HRC) market. Egyptian market players state that they have incurred financial losses due to the appreciation of the dollar, while local steelmaker EZDK has announced a price increase for January production HRC. Accordingly, the mill's domestic HRC offers, which have been unchanged since October at EGP 3,850/mt ($603/mt) ex-works, have moved up by EGP 150/mt ($23/mt) to EGP 4,000/mt ($626/mt) ex-works.
On the other hand, EZDK's latest HRC export offers have softened by $20/mt as compared to mid-December and now stand at $580/mt FOB, for March rolling.
$1 = EGP 6.39