The report issued by the Export Council for Building Materials and Metallurgical Industries revealed that mineral exports fell more than 30% in January, compared to the same month in 2019. The report showed that copper exports fell 32%, steel 25%, ceramics 26%, marble and granite 17%, sanitary ware 25%, cement 11%, aluminum 2%, pipes 20%, while Jewelery and gem exports rose 38%, glass 4%. “The rise in gas and electricity prices has led to a decline in production rates for metallurgical companies, which led to the accumulation of debts on them until they reached 12 billion pounds,” said Mohamed Faraj Amer, head of the Parliament’s Industry Committee.

The Egyptian metal industries sector achieved great losses in 2019, as Egypt Aluminum had achieved losses of 596 million pounds during the first half of the current fiscal year, in exchange for achieving profits for the same period of the previous fiscal year estimated at 758 million pounds. The steel company’s losses during the last year increased by about 20% to reach EGP 1.4 billion against EGP 1.2 billion in 2017-2018 and revenues decreased during the last fiscal year, by 23.2. Suez Cement had achieved a net loss of 495.5 million pound during the first nine months of 2019, compared to a net profit of 335.2 million EGP during the same period in 2018.