Egyptian mills have once again revised their domestic offers for both longs and hot rolled coil (HRC), citing the sharp fall in the USD/EGP exchange rate in the unofficial market. As a result, the main producer has increased its offers by EGP 3,800/mt from last week, but the US dollar equivalent of the offers has actually dropped by $23-24/mt. In this situation, most market players expect more price revisions will follow. Currently, the unofficial exchange rate is reported at $1 = EGP 63.5. “The market is going crazy and the expectations are that there will be more increases very soon,” a local source told SteelOrbis.
The current longs prices from the local steel giant Ezz Steel are at EGP 48,300/mt ex-works or at $667/mt ex-works, while in the earlier offer the US dollar price stood at $690/mt ex-works. A lot of domestic mills have followed and have set the same rebar price as Ezz Steel, while some have increased their price to EGP 49,000/mt ex-works or $677/mt ex-works, SteelOrbis has learned.
In December, total rebar consumption in Egypt had increased by 12.26 percent month on month to 574,900 mt, while the total for the year is estimated at 6.5 million, down 17.5 percent compared to 2022. Also, Egypt’s rebar production in 2023 totaled 8 million mt, down 4.5 percent year on year.
In the flats segment, Ezz Steel is now offering HRC at EGP 49,300/mt ex-works or $681/mt, versus $705/mt ex-works earlier.
