The Egyptian Iron and Steel Company, one of the public sector companies, managed to reduce its losses in the first quarter (Q1) of the current fiscal year compared to the same period last year.

According to the company’s statement to Daily News Egypt, it had a loss of EGP 191m, compared to EGP 233.6m in the corresponding quarter of last year.

The company’s revenues increase in the last three months from 1 July to the end of last September to reach EGP 369.3m, compared to EGP 326.3m.

According to the company’s board meeting report sent to the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) on Sunday, the continued loss in the company comes as a result of the decline in the amount of production due to the decrease in the result of the amount of coke (fuel), which caused the cessation of three out of four furnaces operated by the company, thus reducing the amount of iron produced.

The company added that the furnaces and transformers were affected by the interruption of production, as the increase in energy consumption per ton steel, in addition to the aging of production equipment and the increase of failures, causing a shortage of production and quality decline.

The liberalisation of the exchange rate has had a negative impact, as it has led to the increase and multiplication of the prices of inputs and—more importantly, coke—in addition to the increase in prices of gas and electricity.

The Iron and Steel Company recorded losses of EGP 744.68m in the previous fiscal year, compared to losses of EGP 615.55m a year earlier.