On August 26,
Egypt's largest steel producer Ezz Steel announced its financial results for the first half of 2010.
According to a statement released by the company, in the first half of 2010 Ezz Steel's net profit after tax rocketed by 151 percent to EGP 241 million ($42.25 million) from EGP 96 million in H1 2009.
Meanwhile, the company's consolidated net sales in the first half of 2010 were EGP 7.5 billion ($1.31 billion), surging by 17 percent as compared to the first half of 2009.
Ezz Steel's long steel sales volume reached 1.55 million mt in the first six months of 2010, down two percent, while its flat steel sales increased 23 percent year on year, reaching 644,000 metric tons, both compared to H1 2009.
Long steel products accounted for 68 percent of Ezz Steel's total sales in the first half of 2010, in comparison to 77 percent for the first half of 2009, while flat steel products represented 30 percent of sales in the given period, up from 22 percent the January-July period of 2009, when the EFS facility [i.e., Ezz Steel's flat steel plant] was shut.
In the period in question, Ezz Steel's long product exports accounted for two percent of the total long steel sales, due to continued strong demand in the local Egyptian long steel market, while exports of flat steel constituted 59 percent of total flat sales, thanks to renewed global steel demand for flat products.
In H1 2010, Ezz Steel increased its long steel output by two percent to 1.73 million metric tons, while its flat steel output totaled 721,000 metric tons, up 53 percent, both compared to the corresponding period of 2009.
Despite a general context of sharp volatility, Ezz Steel expects demand and prices of steel products to improve gradually during the second half of 2010. The company said that it is confident about the strength of the Egyptian market, which is driven by private housing growth and infrastructure activities. EZZ Steel also sees that the global flat steel market is set to experience a sustained recovery.