CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's trade and industry minister has decided not to pursue complaints from local steel makers that foreign producers were dumping into its market, the ministry said on Monday.

Egypt said in January it was looking into possible anti-dumping action against Turkish steel imports, which a Turkish official said would violate a free trade accord between the two states if it went ahead.

The ministry said its investigations into the anti-dumping case showed no significant harm had been caused to the local industry due to the increase in steel imports.

"The trade ministry is careful to protect the local industry from any harmful practices," it said in a statement.

" also protects consumers' rights and ensures they benefit from decreased prices of any goods on the global market as long as the drop is not due to illicit practices and does not harm the local market," the statement added.

Egypt's Chamber of Metallurgical Industries had said Egypt witnessed a big rise in steel imports between 2006 and mid 2009.

The ministry's investigations found the rise only took place in the last quarter of 2008 and the first half of 2009, which did not adversely affect the local market, the statement said.

"There were a lot of positive indicators for the (steel) industry during this period including increased local sales, increased production and production capacity, increased employment, and stable profit averages," the statement said.

Egypt has been a major regional market for Turkish steel because the need for housing, and Egyptian government infrastructure spending, has kept steel demand relatively resilient despite the world economic downturn.