Egypt’s Saudi iron ore imports jump, protectionism may raise

Egypt imported around 300,000 tonnes of Saudi iron ore in the past two months, said head of the Egyptian Chamber of Metallurgical Industries on Sunday.

The Egyptian steel industry is suffering from too much steel imports, notably from Saudi Arabia and Greece since the beginning of the year, Gamal El-Garhy told Amwal Al Ghad.

“Demand for imported iron ore is growing, despite having a surplus of around 7 million tonnes produced by local factories,” El-Garhy said.

That is why the Egyptian government is studying increasing protectionism by imposing anti-dumping duties of 25 percent on imported iron ore, he said.

Egypt imposed in December last year a five-year definitive anti-dumping duties on iron ore imported from China, Turkey, and Ukraine.