Egypt's steel producers raised the monthly rebar prices in the domestic market by 4.2 percent in August, reported Al-Ahram's Arabic news website on Sunday.
 
Al-Ahram's Arabic news website cited Mohamed Hanafi, the director of the Metallurgical Industries Chamber (MIC) at Egypt's Industries Federation as saying that retail prices of locally produced steel rebars have jumped to LE5,280 per tonne in August from LE5,065 in July.
 
Hanafi has attributed the price increase to the government's decision to raise the cost of the natural gas, which is supplied to steel factories.
 
The decision became effective in July as a move to trim the state's energy subsidy bill saw the price of natural gas for the iron, steel, aluminium, copper, ceramic and glass industries rise from LE28 million ($4 million) to LE49 million ($7) per million thermal unit.
 
Ezz Steel is the dominant steel producer in Egypt and the Middle East at large, with around 55 percent of the Egyptian steel market.
 
Solb Misr, along with Beshay Steel, share 35 percent of the market.
 
Smaller steel factories comprise the remaining 10 percent.
 
Hanafi also said that the steel raw material billet saw price hikes of LE70 ($10) per tonne in the global market last month -- but that according to the MIC's monthly report, the billet prices have remained unchanged since June, selling at $530 per tonne.

On the other hand, Ahmed El-Zeiny, head of the building materials division at Cairo Chamber of Commerce, told Ahram Online on Monday that producers have exaggerated the price hikes

Accordingly, this would prompt consumers to replace local products with imported rebars from Turkey and Ukraine which are sold at LE4,900 ($700) per tonne in the domestic market.

"The energy increase is estimated at LE20 ($3) per tonne, meaning that producing a tonne of steel rebars will cost LE100 ($14) instead of LE80 ($11) in terms of natural gas consumption,” El-Zeiny explained.

According to El-Zeiny, there 100,000 tonnes steel rebars at Damietta port to enter the domestic market soon.