Egypt's largest steelmaker Ezz Steel has announced its financial results for the first quarter of the current year, reporting a net loss of EGP 19 million ($2.65 million), compared to a net profit of EGP 202 million in the first quarter of 2013. The company's sales revenues in the given period amounted to EGP 5.3 billion ($740 million), falling five percent year on year, partly due to a significant decrease in export volumes, despite higher realized selling prices, a result of the weakness in the international steel markets.
In the first quarter, Ezz Steel's sales, in terms of volume, totaled 1.2 million mt, declining nine percent year on year. In the given period, Ezz Steel's long steel production volume amounted to 341,073 mt, falling three percent, while its flat steel production volume decreased by 14.7 percent to 221,279 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.