Egypt’s Steel Export Surges 18% Y-o-Y basis during Jan-Nov’18

According to the latest numbers released by the Egyptian Council for Building Materials, the value of Egypt’s iron and steel exports in the first eleven months of 2018 rose by 17.9% y-o-y basis from USD 783 million in Jan-Nov’17 to around USD 954 million in Jan-Nov’18.

In its monthly report, the council said that around 55 countries imported Egypt’s iron and steel shipments from January to November 2018 period. Italy was on the top of the list, importing iron and steel from Egypt worth USD 146.909 million from USD 122.7 million in 2017, marking a 16.5% growth y-o-y basis.

Egypt has over 13 MnT of steel production capacity and the production cost of steel in Egypt is very high because of its dependency on imports for raw material (billet) requirements and high natural gas prices.

The country produces both flat and long products but percentage share of long products in total production is higher as compared to flat products. Egypt has 12.7 MnT of rebar production capacity but utilizes only 7-7.5 MnT because of low priced imports and weak demand in the domestic market. Its flat steel production capacity is about 1.2 MnT.

The tepid demand for steel in Egypt’s construction sector is also one of the reasons that country diverted its production in the form of exports to various countries. Egypt’s national steel capacity will reach 15 MnT in 2019, but local demand is unlikely to increase to meet that figure.

Industry experts are of the opinion that rebar consumption in Egypt is likely to mostly remain unchanged in 2019 while flat steel consumption may increase by 4.9% due to various projects such as New Administrative Capital, the hydropower plant in Ataka and the El Dabaa nuclear power plant.