By the middle of the current week, steel market players in Egypt have started reporting upward movement in the longs segment, specifically for local prices, while rebar and wire rod export offers from Egypt have been maintained unchanged. According to sources, major local steel producer Ezz Steel is increasing its domestic offers from tomorrow, January 15, by a considerable amount. However, most market players report that in terms of domestic market activity there may not be enough support for such a price rise. “Demand is extremely slow since still there is trouble with permits for private construction and a slowdown in national projects,” a trading source told SteelOrbis.
According to market information and expectations, Ezz Steel is going to announce a rebar price of EGP 37,000/mt ($685/mt) ex-works for February deliveries based on an exchange rate of $1 = EGP 47.36, up from EGP 34,200/mt ($635/mt) ex-works around mid-November. Most of the other local producers are taking their time to make their announcements, and only some large producers have started to voice offers at EGP 36,500/mt ($676/mt) ex-works for rebar. Before the upward price expectations, large and medium producers were offering at EGP 33,700-34,000/mt (625-630/mt) ex-works, while small producers were offering at EGP 31,000-31,500/mt ($575-585/mt) ex-works, at $1 = EGP 47.23, as SteelOrbis reported.
As for exports, where tdemand has been rather silent due to the holiday period and CBAM evaluations in Europe, the prices for Egyptian rebar and wire rod have stabilized at $545/mt and $555/mt FOB, both mainly for February shipments.
The domestic prices in EGP do not include 14 percent VAT.
