The Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry decided to cancel the safeguard import duties on billet, rebar and aluminum products, which the ministry has imposed since 2019, at 25% on imports of rebar and 15% on imports of billet.

Another decision issued last April included imposing safeguard import duties on a variety of aluminum products at rates ranging from 10.5% to 16.5%.

Today, Sunday, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Nevine Gamea , has issued two decisions to stop the work of Resolution No. 907 of 2019 and 168 of 2021, which are related to imposing preventive measures on imports of billet, rebar and aluminum products, provided that the two new decisions start working as of the day following the date of their publication in the official newspaper.

The minister said that these two decisions came as a result of the significant rise in the global economy in inflation rates and energy prices, as well as the increase in the prices of materials and production requirements, which negatively affects the Egyptian production and export sectors.

For his part, Assistant Minister for Economic Affairs Ibrahim Al-Sajini said that the ministry received a number of complaints submitted by the local industry, as the impact of imposing safeguard duties on these sectors was discussed in light of global and local developments.

After studying the complaints, it was found that there is a significant increase in the prices of production inputs and intermediate goods, as well as the lack of sufficient alternative local product to cover the needs of the local market and the impact of this on the high cost of finished products, which negatively affects the competitiveness of Egyptian exports of those products, which prompted the Ministry to take a decision to cancel these duties.