Pre-Trading Thoughts

The Industrial Development Authority intends to complete the procedures for licensing new cigarettes producers, despite the withdrawal of 3 companies in protest of the conditions. IDA is to complete bidding procedures and hold a technical clearance session on Sunday, January 23, and conclude the bid on April 3, 2022.EGAL has signed with a German contractor an agreement to provide consultancy services for the company's car rim production project in Nagaa Hammadi. The project aims to produce one million aluminum rims annually of various types and sizes, subject to increase to two million rims as phase II of the project.A court ruling against EGTS was issued, obligating it to pay USD5.7 million (EGP0.085/share), in favor of Trans Mediterranean for Tourism Investments, which was a down-payment for a land plot sale dating back to 2007. EGTS had previously obtained a final ruling in this dispute to terminate this contract and withdraw the land plot.AIH disclosed that the appeal lawsuit filed by its subsidiary Cairo Automotive Industry against Peugeot, has been postponed for a ruling on February 28.The Ministry of Petroleum signed a USD3.5 billion 20-year production sharing agreement with  Apache-Sinopec JV.Supply Ministry is considering partnering up with the private sector to establish four new industrial complexes for food production with investments of EGP6 bn over the next three to five years.Weekly Commodity UpdateBrent futures are trading at USD76.08/bblThe Egypt urea index was unchanged WoW at USD945/tonPolyethylene (HDPE) prices were down 2% WoW to USD1,250/tonDiesel-HSFO spreads were up 1% WoW and are at USD254/tonCaustic soda prices cooling down continues as it dropped by 7% WoW so reach USD590/tonPolypropylene prices were down 3% WoW and stood at USD1,200/MT Steel/Iron Ore spreads are at the USD387 mark, declining by 4% WoWAluminum prices were stable WoW to record USD2,837/tonneThermal coal prices increased by 12% WoW recording USD186/tonne,