Cairo – Mubasher: The Egyptian Industrial Development Authority (IDA) has held a bid opening session for the received technical offers applying to a new cigarette factory license, in the presence of four companies.

The local representative of Philip Morris in Egypt has presented a technical study, while British American Tobacco; Al-Mansour Group, the distributor of Imperial Tobacco products; and Japan Tobacco International (JTI) did not submit their offers, asking for delaying the process, according to Ibrahim Embaby, the head of the tobacco division at IDA.

The three said companies have conservations regarding the amended bidding terms, asking to delay the deadline for submitting their technical offers, Embabi revealed, noting that their request will be presented to the Prime Minister.

One of the companies has also asked for separating the new licenses for conventional cigarettes and heated tobacco products, he added.