Ahmed El-Zaini, head of the Building Materials Chamber in the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, told Masrawy that El-Garhy Steel Company announced an increase in the price of the iron a tonne delivered to the factory land by 650 pounds, starting from February 27.

According to El-Zaini, the price of the tonne for “delivery to the factory land” at El-Garhy Company rose to 15,750 pounds, compared to 15,100 pounds before the increase.

The prices of rebar in investment factories also increased by 300 pounds during the past week, due to the repercussions of the war between Russia and Ukraine, according to El-Zaini.

Al-Zaini added that the repercussions of the war between Russia and Ukraine raised iron prices in the investment factories with the increase in demand during the current period in the local market and fears of shipment activity.

Mohamed Hanafi, director of the Chamber of Metallurgical Industries in the Union, said that Egypt imports billet from many countries, but the third of Egypt’s billet imports is from Ukraine, and it imports other minerals, including metal sheets from Russia.

Hanafi explained that the rise in iron prices in some factories during this period came because of the confusion of the global shipping movement due to the repercussions of the war and fears of the shortage of crude in the markets.

Hanafi added that there are alternatives to importing billets to Egypt, such as Turkey, but the problem is with the shipment movement.

The value of Egyptian imports from Ukraine amounted to 1.7 billion dollars during the first 11 months of 2021, compared to 1.8 billion dollars during the same period in 2020, a decrease of 6.4%, according to a statement by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics.

El-Zaini expects a rise in iron prices for the rest of the plants in the local market at the beginning of next March.