EU exempts Egypt
from protective measures over steel exports
Egypt-European Union,
Economics, 3/30/2002
The European Union EU decided to exempt Egypt from protective measures it
levied on its imports of the Egyptian steel. The exemption will cover 13
steel products out of 14 Egypt exports to the EU.
A statement issued by the Foreign Trade Ministry said that this exemption
came in light of the rules which served as the guideline to the recent
decision.
It added that some other products were included as part of the decision but
it was difficult to exempt Egypt form the measures.
Ghali has conducted intense contacts with the European side to head off
possible damage Egypt's steel exports to EU markets, noted the statement.
Egypt is one of the most important suppliers of rolled steel sheets. The EU
imported about 5.1 million tonnes of steel in 2001, with the Egyptian
product accounting for about 300,000 tones.
Ghali added that it is expected to export about one million tonnes worth $
70 million this year to Europe against 350,000 tonnes last year. EU imports
about 60 percent of the Egyptian total production.
It is worth mentioning that USA recently exempted Egypt from some protective
measures it had taken against its steel exports from Europe and other
continents.
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