Egypt's government will launch a tender on Wednesday for licences to produce three million tonnes of steel, requiring investments worth EGP3.2 billion ($561.9 million), newspapers reported on Saturday.

The month-long tender by the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) comes as the government seeks to boost steel production to meet growing demand from the construction industry and stabilise prices.

The licences are for the production of two million tonnes of reinforcing bars and one million tonnes of billet steel, al-Ahram newspaper said.

The tender document did not specify the number of licenses to be offered or the amount to be produced under each licence, leaving manufacturers free to determine the capacity required at their plants, IDA head Amr Assal was quoted by al-Masry al-Youm newspaper as saying.

Assal also told the paper that the additional production would lead to the creation of 6,000 jobs and the tender would give a priority to companies and investors not previously awarded licences to produce steel. – Reuters