Egypt’s Hadisolb boosted by month-on-month sales rise for May

Egypt’s Hadisolb saw total sales rise 18.8% in May compared with the previous month, providing a brief glimmer of good news in a difficult environment that has seen the steelmaker cut back on production.

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The Cairo company said in a statement to investors that it made $16.90 million in local sales in the month, for 23,751 tonnes, and $7.15 million in exports, for 11,112 tonnes, producing a total of $24.06 million.

This compares with $13.64 million in local sales in April and $6.60 million in exports – a total of $20.24 million.

While the company sold more than 34,000 tonnes in the month it only produced 24,886 tonnes in May, just a third of the 75,000 tonnes originally scheduled as the company adjusts to lower market demand and lower steel prices.

This figure is a decline on the 30,279 tonnes produced in April and the 34,291 tonnes produced in March. Both previous months also had an original production target of 75,000 tonnes.

Hadisolb – full name Egyptian Iron & Steel Co – manufactures pig iron along with semi-finished steel products, hot and cold rolled coil, long products and steel goods for making railway tracks.

The company is struggling with an uncertain economic environment in Egypt after a more than a year without a permanent president or government.

Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate, was sworn in as the new president on June 30, a week after being confirmed as the election winner.

“There is a clear winner, but there needs to be clarity about the role of the military,” one equity analyst in Bahrain said after the election result. “The election is one step, but it’s one of many steps.”

Hadisolb shares were down 1.24% to E£3.98 at 2:30pm Cairo time on July 8.