Samir & Aly Stationery Houses are studying a USD 5 mn project to manufacture pencils, pens, and pencil erasers, in cooperation with an unnamed foreign company, Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabil says, according to Al Masry Al Youm. Output will be sold domestically but also exported. The plant is expected to produce erasers domestically for the first time. Preliminary studies for the project were completed but the plant’s location is yet to be determined. The project could break ground before year’s end and begin production by the end of next year, Kabil says.