Egyptian Ministry of Trade & Industry has imposed 3-15% and 25% temporary tariffs on billet and rebar respectively since April 15th for a period of 180 days.

Egyptian re-rollers, such as Al Gioshy Steel, said that temporary import tariffs might have a great impact on rebar producers. Nearly one-fourth of steel mills will worry about rising costs and stop production, so they have called on the government to re-discuss this issue.

However, the four major steel mills, such as Suez Steel, Ezz Steel, Beshay and Hadisolb, seemed to be unaffected by this policy.

Egypt has imposed permanent anti-dumping duties on imported rebar from China, Turkey and Ukraine, and this was the first time to impose temporary tariff on billet.

Market participants believed that import tax of billet should not exceed 5% in order to support domestic prices.