The capacities of local steel factories can meet the needs of the New Administrative Capital project and other national projects, Chairman of Chamber of Metallurgical Industries (CMIE) Gamal El-Garhy said Tuesday. El-Garhy stated that the annual capacity of locally-produced rebar is estimated at 9.5-10 million tonnes, thus there is a surplus in rebar production as Egypt consumes 7.5 million tonnes of rebar annually. The capacity of Egyptian steel sector is expected to rise by 2 million tonnes in 2016 as new factories are set to start production, a member of CMIE Rafiq al-Daw said. He noted that in 2016 there will be a surplus of local steel estimated at 4.5 million tonnes while the New Administrative Capital project needs around five million tonnes of steel to construct 6 million housing units over five years. According to these numbers, steel factories have to provide one million tonne annually for five years for the project without affecting the regular market, by which there will be a surplus in the production estimated at 3.5 million tonnes annually and there will be no need to import rebar, al-Daw added.
