Arab Steel reported that 2 Arab countries, Egypt and Algeria have occupied advanced position among the top 10 countries importing steel products at the world level.

According to data supplied to Arab Steel by ISSB, Egypt occupied the 7th rank with a figure of 3.9 million tonnes during the H1 of 2009 against 1.3 million tonnes during the same period in 2008, ie up by 200%. Algeria occupied the 10th rank with a figure of 3.3 million tonnes in 2009 against 1.8 million tonnes in the same period in 2008, ie up by 80%.

In spite of the decline of imports of the top 10 importing countries of steel products at the world level by 26% during the H1 of 2009, the increase of imports in Egypt, Algeria and China registering positive figures in the volume of imports has compensated the huge decline of the volume of imports registered by the EU 27, South Korea and USA registering a decline of 46% during the H1 of 2009 against the same period in 2008 and also the decline of imports of UAE from 6.3 million tonnes during the H1 of 2008 down to 2.4 million tonnes during the same period in 2009, ie down by 62%.

Algeria is at the top of the list of importers in the Arab Maghreb countries. Their imports of long products amount to 2.2 million tonnes against 1.2 million tonnes during the same period in 2008. Egypt occupies the first rank as the largest importer of the long products with a figure of 2.4 million tonnes. The increasing of Arab countries imports figures are an indicator of the demand growth for the steel products, especially in the construction sector in spite of the economic slowdown seen by most countries of this region and of expectations of a decline of the steel consumption in 2009 at the world level by almost 33% compared to 2008.

(Sourced from Arab Steel)