The Ministry of Trade and Industry, decided yesterday to stop the implementation of two decisions to impose preventive measures on imports of billet, rebar and aluminum products
For our top talks today, there is a heated debate in the iron community about the decision to cancel the “pallet” fees. The government, represented by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, decided yesterday to stop the implementation of two decisions to impose preventive measures on imports of billet, rebar and aluminum products, in a move that sparked wide reactions and great controversy among workers in the sector, about its impact on both the industry and the local marktet. Engineer Samir Noaman, member of the Export Council for Building Materials and Refractories, head of the sales sector at Ezz Steel, said that the decision was unsuccessful in terms of procedure and timing, stressing that it harms the national industry. He continued: There is no reason to cancel these fees at this time, especially in light of the significant decline in the Turkish lira, and this means the entry of large quantities of imported billets and iron at dumped prices into the Egyptian market, which affects local factories. He explained that the council will address the Ministry of Trade and Industry to reconsider this decision in order to reconsider this procedure. (Al-Mal)
- Additionally, Eng. Hassan El-Marakby, Chairman of the Board of Directors of El-Marakby Steel Group (which operates in the semi-integrated cycle system), said that the decision must be regulated, meaning specifying import quotas to reduce the random importation expected to occur in the coming period.
Al-Marakby added that he fears a significant increase in billet and steel rebar imports, which will lead to huge losses for local companies, stressing that the Ministry of Trade and Industry should quickly determine the needs of each factory and set a ceiling for imports, so that factories are not negatively affected. He pointed out that the abolition of duties on imports of rebar will cause countless problems, especially since it is not a crude but a final product, expecting that many major producing countries will supply large shipments to the Egyptian market, which will cause difficulties for local companies, whether billet producers or rolling stock. (Al-Mal)
- Equally important, Egypt's exports of liquefied natural gas witnessed a remarkable increase during the last fiscal year, by 115%. According to the Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), the total shipments of liquefied gas exported during the last fiscal year amounted to about 71, compared to 33 during the previous year.
While Egypt's exports of liquefied gas amounted to about 67 shipments from the "Idku" and "Damietta" liquefaction plants during the first nine months of this year. Egypt currently possesses a sufficient supply of natural gas to meet its domestic needs and fulfill all its export obligations, through gas pipelines or liquefaction plants. It is noteworthy that the total average production of natural gas amounted to more than 6.8 billion cubic feet last fiscal year, and all sectors were supplied by 100% and covered the entire needs of the local market. (Al-Mal)
- More good news to share, Fitch Solutions, the global economic consulting company”, draws positive expectations for the “local economy” until 2025. It has set its expectations for 7 basic sectors in the Egyptian economy until the end of this year,
and has drawn up scenarios for their movements in the medium term until 2025. The list of targeted sectors included food and beverages, the consumer sector, agricultural investment, real estate, petrochemicals, energy, and logistics. For the food and beverage sector, it is expected that spending on food will witness an average annual growth of 9.3% until the end of the forecast period. As for consumption, the International Foundation believes that real household spending will achieve an average annual growth of 4.2% in the medium term until 2025. In terms of agricultural investment, Fitch said that the growth in production and consumption of all products related to the sector (dairy - meat - grains - poultry) paints a positive outlook for the sector, and the corporation confirmed that demand will remain strong for industrial real estate this year. In the energy sector, Fitch sees continuous growth in the sector over a period of 10 years, and pointed to the decline in doubts about the ability of the petrochemical industry to pursue a program to build its capabilities. (Fitch Solutions)
- And for our hot topic abroad, the price of oil witnessed a decline in the global oil markets today, Monday, amid expectations of an increase in supply, while the demand for fuel is affected by rising energy costs and high cases of Covid-19.
The price of oil in the futures contracts for Brent crude fell 63 cents, or 0.8%, to 81.54 dollars a barrel. Oil markets have fallen over the past three weeks, weighed down by a stronger dollar and speculation that the administration of President Joe Biden may release US strategic oil reserves to calm prices. (Reuters)
- Moving to our EGX & companies talks, first, Orascom Development Egypt (ODE) (ORHD) achieved a consolidated net profit of EGP 1.12 billion during the first nine months of 2021, higher 226% when compared to EGP 343.79 million in the corresponding period of 2020.
The company’s standalone net profit registered 778 million EGP during the January-September period of 2021, compared to 301.39 million EGP in the same period of 2020. During the first half of 2021, the real estate developer generated 3 billion EGP in revenues, an increase of 55.8% when compared to the same period a year earlier. (EGX)
- Second, Heliopolis Housing and Development (HHD) (HELI) is planning to issue an additional share of its capital on the EGX after awarding the winning offer for the Heliopark project and increasing the company's capital.
HHD requires 1–1.5 billion EGP in financing for its upcoming projects. Earlier this month, Minister of Public Business Sector Hisham Tawfik revealed that HHD’s additional stake is expected to be offered by mid-2022. The company is currently working on determining its financing needs to carry out its projects, Tawfik said, noting that these financings are expected to exceed 1 billion EGP. The percentage of the additional stake to be offered will be set before the second half (H2) of 2022. (Al-Mal)
- Hassan Allam Construction (HAC), a subsidiary of Hassan Allam Holding, has been awarded a project in Saint Catherine city in South Sinai to develop the Tagali Al Aazam site.
HAC will be responsible for completing the infrastructure works and the construction of a hotel, bazaars, and chalets across Saint Catherine city. The subsidiary will also develop the St. Catherine Monastery walkway and implement landscaping works across the city. The buildings to be developed will also include a five-star mountain hotel overlooking the monastery. The 150-key establishment comprises a ground floor and four floors. HAC will be responsible for the renovation of Wadi El-Raha ecolodge that includes 100 chalets. The site will witness the development of a new ecolodge comprising seven five-star hotels consisting of the ground and first floors, as well as administrative buildings for Saint Catherine city. (Mubasher)
- Also, Egyptian Financial Group Hermes Holding (EFG Hermes) (HRHO) acquired the entire share of individual shareholders in the ownership structure of Tanmeyah.
The company bought a total of 317,000 shares, representing 6.5% of Tanmeyah’s stake, for 415 million EGP. Accordingly, EFG Hermes raised its ownership in Tanmeyah to 100%. It is worth noting that EFG Hermes posted a consolidated net profit before minority interest of 698.056 million EGP in half one (H1) 2021. (Al-Mal)
- In the same fashion, Tyro, a distance learning platform that brings students together with qualified teachers by offering individual and group learning sessions, has announced its acquisition of Nafham,
an Egyptian startup offering free educational content through the concept of “crowdsourcing,” under a share-sharing agreement. As per the terms of the agreement, the Tyro Board of Directors will lead Nafham and all of its operations with the goal of developing the customer experience for the 6 million users on Nafham. Tyro will form the broader business umbrella and will continue to provide direct teaching services, as well as enhancing the technology capabilities of the group as a whole. Tyro has also secured a seed investment fund for the new entity from some of the investors including Flat6Labs and NXL Partner. (Al-Mal)
- In addition, Misr Capital, the investment banking services arm of Banque Misr, completed the deal for the fifth issuance of Al-Tameer Securitization Company with a value of 749.8 million EGP,
with the guarantee of the portfolios transferred from Egy Lease for financial leasing, after obtaining the approval of the Financial Supervisory Authority. The issuance comes in four tranches with maturities ranging from nine months for the first tranche, thirteen months for the second tranche, thirty-seven months for the third tranche, and sixty months for the fourth tranche. The segments also obtained credit ratings of P1 for the first tranche, which is the highest credit rating from MERIS - Middle East Credit Rating and Investors Service (MERIS), AA+ for the second, AA for the third and A for the fourth. (Al-Mal)
Stay up to date
More Newsletter to Check
SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to download our daily economics and business roundup
×
![]()