The Exports Council for Construction Materials (ECCM) will hold an urgent meeting this Sunday to request Prime Minister Hesham Qandil fix energy prices for factories. The ECCM plans to ask for a detailed five year plan to fix energy prices for industries.
Waleed Gamal Eldeen, Presidentof the ECCM, said the energy prices instability is causing major confusion in the industrial sector. The random prices prevent domestic and international investments from being established during the coming period.
“It is illogical that factory owners wake up to surprising changes in energy prices every month,” Gamal Eldeen said. Those changes resulted in the disruption of the production cycle, which led to a decline in the factories’ capacity of production. The industrial sector recorded a decline in exports during the second quarter of this year; EGP 17.954 billion compared to EGP 20.416 in the same period of 2011.
The ECCM is calling for the return of the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority (EMRA) under the agency of the Ministry of Petroleum (MOP) instead of the Ministry for Industry and Foreign Trade (MIFT). The ECCM’s suggestion is attributed to The MOP’s better ability in exploiting national resources.
Gamal Eldeen stressed the importance of issuing a legislation to prohibit exporting raw ores, since it places a large financial burden on the state.
