The Industry and Energy Committee of the House of Representatives intends to ask the government to reduce natural gas prices for the energy-intensive factories, Alborsanews reported citing Parliamentary sources.

According to the sources, the committee plans to propose their suggestion on reducing natural gas prices to $4.5 per million thermal units (mtu) for the Iron, steel, aluminum, copper, ceramics and porcelain industries, down from the current price of $5.5 per mtu, during the upcoming meeting with Amr Nassar, the Minister of Trade and Industry.

Ramadan Metwaly, a committee member, commented that the international natural gas price is less than $3 per mtu, noting that “the recent reduction in natural gas prices by the government is good and re-reducing it will help improve the economic indicators and the competitiveness ability of the Egyptian products abroad.”

Moreover, Mohamed Abou El Enein, Ceramica Cleopatra Chairman, noted that reducing natural gas price is necessary, especially under the international decline in natural gas prices to around $3 per mtu, adding that the government needs to reconsider natural gas prices for some energy-intensive industries, especially for the Ceramics one.

It is worth mentioning that the Cabinet approved in October a decline in natural gas prices for some industries to be $5.5 per mtu for Iron, steel, aluminum, copper, ceramics and porcelain industries, and $6 per mtu for the cement industry. Additionally, the government reduced the imported gas prices by 27%.