Algerian trade minister Mohamed Benmeradi has announced the abolition of the import license system in the country as of January 1, 2018, for all products, except for imports of vehicles.  It was declared that the system “has shown its limits”, it was a bureaucratic system that “lacked transparency”, and sometimes it has caused supply problems, leading to price hikes in the Algerian market. The aim of the license system was to boost domestic production and to increase customs revenues. The import license system in Algeria had been introduced in 2016.

This is an important development particularly for Italian reinforcing bar bar producers, for which Algeria is a traditional export market. The Algerian market is of strategic importance for European producers, especially as it is protected from Turkish competition by an import duty on reinforcing bar imports from Turkey.