Steel manufacturers interested in new steel licenses from the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) want the authority to slash the license prices, Al Borsa reports, citing unnamed sources close to the matter.

Other industry demands reportedly lodged at a sit-down with the IDA yesterday: The companies requested a more flexible time frame to build out the factories and kick off operations. They also asked for more incentives, including a contractual freeze on gas and electricity prices for at least 10 years and a break on the cost of land. It’s unclear whether the IDA will meet these demands, with the newspaper quoting its unnamed sources as saying the IDA had set prices following “thorough” market studies.

What are the current prices of the licenses, anyway? The prices of the licenses range from EGP 62.8-345.4 mn.

Refresher: The six licenses up for grabs in a tender from the IDA include three permits to set up billet factories with an annual production capacity of 1.1 mn tonnes each, one to manufacture 2.5 mn tonnes of direct-reduced iron a year, and two to make iron ore with a capacity of 8 mn tonnes for each plant. The authority will open the door for bidding in February.