Egypt's Ministry of Trade and Industry is mulling an antidumping duty investigation against certain steel imports from
Turkey, according to media reports.
While there is no official statement from the Egyptian authorities yet, the market players believe that the investigation in question will probably be launched.
According to SteelOrbis Steel Trade Statistics,
Turkey's
rebar exports to
Egypt showed a steep increase in the first half of 2009 just after the global economic crisis of 2008, especially as the strong
rebar flow from
Turkey to the UAE stopped due to the halting of construction projects in that country due to the impact of the crisis. The increase in
Egypt's
rebar demand was due to increased infrastructure spending in the country, including new airports, housing projects, schools and hospitals. As a result,
Turkey exported over 1.95 million metric tons of
rebar to
Egypt in just the first half of 2009.
However,
Turkey's
rebar sales to
Egypt slowed down in the second half of 2009 to 338,000 mt. In the following period, with the political and social upheaval emerging in the country, the volumes have never approached the levels observed in H1 2009. In 2012,
Turkey exported about 458,000 mt of
rebar to
Egypt and the export volume in the last quarter of 2012 was only 30,000 mt, with the impact of
Egypt's imposition of a temporary import duty of 6.8 percent on
rebar and wire rod in November 2012.