(MENAFN- Daily News Egypt)
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly met with the members of the Chamber of Metallurgical Industries (CMI) on Sunday, in the presence of Ahmed Samir, the Minister of Trade and Industry. They presented their visions on how to boost the metallurgical industries and increase their production and export rates. The meeting took place in the New Administrative Capital.
The Prime Minister said that the CMI is one of the most important chambers in the Federation of Egyptian Industries, as it specializes in a strategic industry. Emad Al-Alfy, the Chairperson of the CMI, said that the CMI includes 1,500 factories, producers, and workshops, with an estimated investment volume of EGP 800bn, and providing about 350,000 direct jobs and more than a million indirect jobs.
Al-Alfy suggested several main axes that would help expand the industry and increase exports. He also said that the investors in the metal industry have some demands that would accelerate the production in this sector.
He mentioned that they are working to transform some informal foundries into formal ones by offering them some incentives that are being coordinated with the government.
The CMI members raised some challenges that they face, such as the need to issue licenses and the industrial registry quickly, as well as connecting the facilities fast. They also asked for revising the interest on long-term loans.
They announced that they could increase their production capacity to enhance their production and export capabilities if the financing procedures are facilitated.
They said:“We have great opportunities in the steel industry, and we have the capabilities to use green hydrogen as fuel, in line with the environmental compliance plans. This can increase the production to millions of tonnes, and attract global investors from abroad.”
The members proposed giving incentives to the factories that increase their exports, and maximizing the benefit from the export opportunities and the preferential treatment for the Egyptian exports under the free trade agreements that Egypt has joined, especially with the Arab and African countries.”
They also proposed studying the possibility of giving tax exemptions for five years, granting industrial lands, and exempting the utility connection costs for new factories that produce products that are not available locally and are imported, such as stainless steel sheets, aluminum foil, railway bars, ferroalloys, etc.