According to the Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB), the Egyptian steel producers who filed for an antidumping duty investigation in May this year regarding rebar and wire rod imports from China, Ukraine and Turkey have continued to put pressure on Egypt's Ministry of Trade to launch an investigation.
Commenting on the situation, CIB chairman Namık Ekinci said that it is publicly known that Turkish goods entering Egypt are not dumped or subsidized, just like Turkish goods in any other part of the world, adding, "Some industrialists are taking the easy way and are putting pressure on their own authorities to impede other successful players like us, instead of improving their production lines and personnel to increase profitability."
The CIB said that, since data for other countries' rebar and wire rod exports to Egypt are not available after 2013, the comparison is between 2012 and 2013. "Billet exports from Turkey to Egypt in 2013 decreased by 35 percent to 167,000 mt, while rebar exports decreased by 55 percent to 204,000 mt, both year on year. On the other hand, Russian billet exports to Egypt increased by 90 percent to 460,000 mt, and Ukraine's billet exports increased by 67 percent to 943,000 mt, both year on year. If the complainants were right in their filing, we would not have lost our market share to other countries," the CIB chairman stated.
In November 2012, Egypt decided to impose a 6.8 percent safeguard measure for rebar and wire rod imports, which remained in force until June 2013. However, in November 2013, Egypt terminated its safeguard investigation without any affirmative decision to impose a safeguard duty, as announced by the CIB at the time.