Egypt’s long steel offers have remained relatively stable over the past fortnight as mills have been keeping their official domestic offers stable while providing some discounts in the case of serious demand. As regards exports, not much change has been seen in rebar and wire rod prices from Egypt amid high costs and limited competition. In fact, Turkey, the main rival of Egypt in the region, has been gradually decreasing its offers, coming down to Egypt’s levels, with the prices of both sides now more or less matched. Another issue is that no discount will now trigger demand for Egyptian longs since Egypt’s quota in the EU is limited and inquiries are currently at a low level. Local billet prices in Egypt are also largely unchanged, while imports are almost absent due to high prices from the Black Sea region and the temporary absence of China.
The official domestic rebar price range in Egypt is now at EGP 36,800-37,200/mt ($678-686/mt) ex-works, with the upper end of the range belonging to the market leader Ezz Steel. According to sources, the actual sales price levels from mills in Egypt, including the small mills, are standing at EGP 34,000-36,000/mt ($627-663/mt) ex-works. Demand has been mainly on the moderate side through most of February but is expected to slow down due to the impact of Ramadan on construction activity.
Rebar export offers from Egypt remain at $540-545/mt FOB and wire rod is still at $550-555/mt FOB and up to $560/mt FOB. Cargoes are for March-April shipments.
In the domestic billet market, Egypt’s prices from two leading suppliers have been set at EGP 30,800-31,000/mt ($568-571/mt) ex-works, while some smaller mills have been offering at EGP 28,500-29,300/mt ($525-540/mt) ex-works, SteelOrbis has learned. Import billet offers in Egypt are indicative at $475-480/mt CFR from Russia, while the minimal safeguard tax on billet is at EGP 4,613/mt or $85/mt according to the current rate. As a result, ex-Russia billet offers are mathematically workable in Egypt, but in reality, according to local sources, they would target nothing above $440/mt CFR. It is noteworthy that there have been suggestions offered by the local authorities regarding the HRS safeguard adjustment, as reported by SteelOrbis early this week, but on the billet side no fresh information has been disclosed yet.
Local prices in US dollars exclude 14 percent VAT.
$1 = EGP 47.6
