The ceramics division of the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) with the Ministry of Industry has asked for the Egyptian prime minister to intervene on the price of gas to factories in order to conform it to a more global and competitive market price. The price has steadily increased since 1996 and has recently jumped $5 per 1m thermal units in July 2014, raising it to the current price of $7. The rise in price has made it so Egyptian products struggle to compete with competitors in the area such as Turkey, Iran, the Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. According to the article, Sherif Afifi, head of the ceramics division, this leads to lower production capacity and halted exports to several markets, including Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia.
The ceramics division prepared a study, which was submitted to the FEI, stating that “ceramics exports declined from $398 million in 2012 to $178 million in 2015 compared to the high volume of imports from $51 million in 2012 to $84 million in 2015.” According to the study, reducing the cost of gas could increase the state’s foreign currency income by about $200 million a year.
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