Jamal Garhi, Chairman of the Chamber of Metallurgical Industries at the Federation of Industries, has announced that steel companies could not sustain operations with post devaluation natural gas costs and that they are pushing to decrease the price to USD4.5/mmbtu. Sherif Afifi, Head of Ceramics division at the Federation of Industries, noted that the increase in natural gas price post devaluation will hurt the ceramics industry in Egypt, and that the gas price must be reduced to USD4.5/mmbtu to ensure operational sustainability. Afifi noted that the Federation of Industries is currently studying the second proposal to reduce gas price, which will be submitted to the Minister of Trade and Industry. It is worth noting that natural gas price is quoted in USD and paid in EGP equivalent, so the recent devaluation has inflated the cost of natural gas for industrial players. (Al Borsa)