Following a rather sharp price increase for rebar seen in the first week of the month in Egypt, considerable incentives on pricing have lately been provided with a limited term of validity, which is viewed as a significant market weakening, though it may be temporary.
According to sources, early this working week Egypt’s local market leader Ezz Steel has unofficially decreased prices for rebar for domestic customers by EGP 4,000/mt or around $70/mt compared to offers announced in early November. While the official rebar price of the producer has remained at EGP 38,200/mt ($710/mt) ex-works, the reduced price is available for orders placed until the end of November with shipments to be carried out later. As per the market information, other producers in Egypt have to offer a maximum of EGP 33,000-33,500/mt ($615-635/mt) ex-works, which many of them evaluate as a loss and, moreover, many prefer to refrain from giving lower offers. “Although it is a kind of promotion by Ezz and for a limited time, market players still consider it to be a sizeable market weakening,” a source said.
At the same time, the mill’s local billet prices have decreased over the past two weeks by EGP 2,000/mt ($35/mt) to EGP 28,000-29,000/mt ($520-539/mt) ex-works depending on the grade. The latest import offers for billet from Black Sea-based suppliers of Russian and Donbass material stand at $470-475/mt CFR, with a minimal safeguard tax of EPG 4,613/mt ($97.95/mt) to be applied. “The lower rebar and billet prices in Egypt mean that the current imports are completely out of place [in terms of prices]. To be fair, nothing far above $420-430/mt CFR would work today in Egypt,” a local source told SteelOrbis.
While providing temporary incentives in the rebar segment, Ezz Steel has maintained offers for HRC at EGP 35,000/mt ex-works or $650/mt ex-works.
$1 = EGP 47.19
