PHOTO
Egypt’s building material prices have recorded their largest decline in 2024 following government measures to unify currency exchange rates and tackle dollar shortages in the market, press reports said on Wednesday.
Steel prices stood at around 38,000 Egyptian pounds per tonne ($792) on Tuesday after reaching one of its highest levels of around EGP43,000 per tonne ($896) in early 2024.
“We expect the prices of building materials to continue falling in the next days,” said Ahmed Al-Zaini, head of the building materials section at the Cairo Chamber.
“Steel prices have largely receded from their peak levels over the past few days thanks to measures taken by the government on 6 March to unify currency exchange rates and supply US dollars to the market,” he told Alyoum Al-Sabei news website.
A report by Egypt’s Al-Watan newspaper on Wednesday said cement prices also maintain a downward trend this week and stood at EGP2,216 ($46.1) per tonne on Tuesday compared with EGP2,225.7 ($46.4) on Monday.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
Subscribe to our Projects' PULSE newsletter that brings you trustworthy news, updates and insights on project activities, developments, and partnerships across sectors in the Middle East and Africa.
