Egypt will impose an eight per cent import tariff on rebar - reinforced steel bars - for three years, the trade ministry said, extending temporary tariffs introduced last year to protect the domestic industry.

A ministry statement said Egypt would also impose a 20 per cent tariff on white sugar for 200 days, following a filing to the World Trade Organization last week in which it sought to safeguard domestic producers from a damaging surge in imports.

The tariffs come at a critical time for Egypt's steel industry, which is recovering from four years of political and economic turmoil, and for a global market struggling with low prices and overcapacity due to lacklustre demand.

Egyptian steel companies have been further pressured by energy costs and availability in a country where energy shortages have hit output and profitability.

Egypt's major steelmakers have petitioned the government to impose anti-dumping measures on rebar and wire rod imports from China, Ukraine and Turkey after energy subsidies were cut last summer.

A ministry official told Reuters the tariffs on steel imports would begin on May 2 and those on sugar would start once a notice is published in the official gazette.  - Reuters