Egypt's largest steelmaker Ezz Steel has announced that it has increased its net sales by 10 percent year on year in its financial results for the first half ended on June 30, 2012, as Egypt continued to witness high single-digit growth in private house building, in contrast to weaker international steel markets.
Accordingly, in the first six months of the current year, Ezz Steel achieved a net profit of EGP 82 million ($13.43 million), rising by 61 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
In the given period, the company's net sales increased by 10 percent year on year to EGP 10.3 billion ($1.68 billion). Ezz Steel stated that, in terms of volume, its sales in the first half increased by eight percent to 2.4 million mt, due to increased long product production at its EFS plant following the commissioning of the long product mill during 2011. Ezz Steel said that it has maintained its share in the domestic market and has focused production from its EFS plant exclusively on long products to help meet growing demand.
According to Ezz Steel's statement, long steel production volumes reached 2.1 million mt in the given period, up 25 percent year on year, while its flat steel production volume decreased by 14 percent year on year to 472,000 mt due to the suspension of flat production at EFS due to weaker global demand and pricing and the concentration of production at that plant on long products.