Ezz Steel and El-Komy Steel have sent two memos to President Mubarak and the Ministry of Trade and Industry calling for reconsidering or postponing the decision on importing rebar or imposing 5%-10% customs tariffs on imported rebar, sources in the rebar market said. Minister of Trade and Industry Rashid Mohamed Rashid promised to study these proposals. However, officials at the ministry confirmed that Rashid had rejected to impose import duties on rebar, while they ruled out the amendment of customs duties in the near future. Some 290,000 tons of rebar have been imported from Turkey, of which 80,000 tons for the National Steel, owned by Gamal Al-Garahy, and 40,000 for Beshay Steel, owned by Gamil Beshay. Observers fear the Ezz Group may reduce its prices to record levels next month to hit imported cargos, expecting fierce competition in the rebar market in the near future. If customs duties were imposed on imported rebar, rebar prices would increase again after their stability in recent months, observers said. Importer Khaled el-Borini called for fees to be imposed on imported rebar, as rebar-producing factories in Egypt dump this product in the market. He said steel manufacturers try to impose dumping fees on imported steel by dumping this product in the market so that the Ministry of Industry and Trade is forced to impose dumping or protective fees.
