Data from Egypt's Department of Industry and Commerce shows that demand from Libya is responsible for the country's first increase in exports in six months.
Ahmed El-Zeini, head of construction material division in Cairo's chamber of commerce, said, "Libya started to import large quantities of Egyptian cement, taking advantage of the lower costs, since it is transported via trucks, unlike Turkey and other countries".
Since the start of the year the priced of cement has also gone up from around $50 per tonne to over $60 per tonne.
Egypt's proximity to Libya, however, still does not give Egyptian steel a major advantage. El-Zeini says "Egyptian steel exports to Libya are somehow limited because Turkey offers considerably better prices."
(Source: Ahram Online)