Mung beans become the sixth commodity to be traded on the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) trading floor on Wednesday, January 22, 2014, Fortune reported.
The Board of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange Authority (ECEA), the regulatory body of the EXC, gave its approval for the optional trading of Mung beans at the exchange at the end of July, 2013.
There are four quality grades for mung beans and three delivery sites, located in – Addis Abeba; Kombolcha in South Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region, 376km from the capital Addis Abeba, and Assosa, the capital of the Benishangul Gumuz Region, 657 km from Addis Abeba, according to Fortune.
The export of the mung beans has increased over the past three years.
Ethiopia exported 174,000qt of green mung beans in the 2012/13 fiscal year, according to data obtained from the Ministry of Trade by Fortune.
The market value of the bean has also increased since 2010/11, with farmers increasingly interested in cultivating it, says an official from the ECEA. Exporters, especially from Dessie, the capital of the South Wollo Zone, started actively exporting mung beans. This led to a price increase and encouraged many farmers to cultivate the beans. The price of a quintal has jumped to 2,500 and 3,000 birr now from from 1,560 birr, in 2010/11, according to Fortune.
Mung beans – known in Amharic as masho – mostly grow in the lowland areas of the Amhara Region. They are especially common in Debre Sina, North Shoa Zone, as well as in Qallu, in the South Wollo Zone. Mung beans are currently being cultivated in the Oromia and Benishangul Gumuz regions as well.
Source: Fortune
