Since currency issues persist in Egypt, the local mills have been forced to adjust their domestic longs offers in the Egyptian pound in order to keep the US dollar equivalent closer to their market expectations. In the meantime, as for exports, some producers have provided discounts, specifically for end-of-March and April shipments.
Today, January 18, the largest local producer Ezz Steel has hiked its March production rebar and wire rod offers for the local market by EGP 1,000/mt to EGP 26,985/mt ex-works. The US dollar level is now at almost $800/mt ex-works, according to the $1= EGP 29.65 rate. “We cannot evaluate this as an increase or decrease in US dollars. The offer is not demand-driven nowadays. It is an effort by the mills to keep prices at close to $800/mt or above,” a source said. The other local producers in Egypt are also expected to take similar steps.
While in the local market the producers are trying to keep prices high, most probably counting on the pre-Ramadan demand in March, in the export market the situation is different. “We are offering for April shipments, and so the demand locally will be dead. Therefore, we need to be more flexible on exports,” a supplier told SteelOrbis. As a result, this week wire rod export prices are at $650-660/mt FOB, down $20/mt over the past week, while rebar is available at $645-650/mt FOB, down by around 10-15/mt.