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Adami Tulu Pesticide Processing SC is scheduled to inaugurate mosquito nets and herbicides factories built at a total cost of 26 million birr in August.

The factories will be constructed by Adami Tulu, a government owned company established in 1998, near Ziway, Oromia Regional State, at a cost of 40.5 million birr.

The machinery for the mosquito net factory was imported from China. It is expected that the factory will save Ethiopia 4.5 million dollars, which accounts for about 40 percent of the cost of importing mosquito nets annually.

"When it reaches full capacity, the factory will produce all three million mosquito nets thereby saving the country up to 14 million dollars in foreign currency with the expertise and technological knowhow from the Chinese company," Samuel Samuel Halala, general manager of Adami Tulu, said.

The factory will buy emulsifiers and mineral fillers locally, while it will import other raw materials like active ingredients for pesticide production.

Adami Tulu had planned to make 154 million birr this fiscal year; however, it collected 97 million birr over the last 10 months. In the planting season, however, it expects to earn more than the target in the coming two months.

Source: Fortune

Mesfin Industrial Engineering launched Saturday an assembly plant for Addis Car in partnership with Geely International Corp, a Chinese manufacturer. Addis Cars will assemble Geely cars powered by 1.3cc engines and equipped with double airbags and an anti-breaking system.

Mesfin has been assembling trucks and this is the first time for it to assemble automobiles. With the machinery the company imported for 10 million birr, it is capable of assembling five Geely automobiles at a time and over 800 a year.

Mesfin Industrial had imported 34 completely built units of Geely cars to test its appeal to middleclass customers at the end of 2010. The cars were sold at 285,000 birr each, which encouraged Mesfin Industrial to install the assembly plant, according to Yusuf, manager of sales and promotion at Mesfin Industrial.

Mesfin also has the sole distribution rights in Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan where Geely is not licensed to distribute. The company has been the exclusive importer and distributor of Geely cars in Ethiopia since August 2010.

By February 2011, 13 vehicle and tractor assembly companies were licensed and started operation. Some of companies are owned by foreigners, according to the Ethiopian Investment Agency.

Source: Fortune

Wednesday, 15 June 2011

The Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT) is preparing to establish a factory for the production of PVC raw materials at a cost of two billion birr. The factory will be set up near Mesobo, Tigray Regional State, an area endowed with large limestone deposits.

Currently, about 40,000 metric tons of raw materials are imported for manufacturing PVC products in the water development and the construction sectors. The company aims to reduce the flight of foreign currency by supplying the demand for the raw material.

Sources say that the factory will use Chinese technology, though it has made no official announcement regarding its decisions. The formation of the company, supervised by Ezana Mining Development (another EFFORT company), is not yet complete.

This factory will become the fourteenth EFFORT company next to Mesfin Industrial Engineering, Mesobo Cement Factory, Sur Construction, Baba Dimensional Stone, Trans Ethiopia, Express Transit, Guna Trading, Addis Pharmaceuticals, Sheba Tannery, Hiwot Agriculture, Almeda Textile, Experience Ethiopia and Ezana Mining Development.

Source: The Reporter

A factory which manufactures PP Bags, built by the Becho-Weliso Farmers' Cooperative Union at a cost of 21.7 million birr, was inaugurated on Sunday, 5 June 2011 in Tulu-Bolo. The Factory has created job opportunity for 179 people.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony President Girma Wolde-Giorgis urged members of union and the surrounding community to exploit the natural potential of the area. The President also underlined the importance of the PP Bags factory in meeting the needs of the farmers and the demands of other agro-processing unions for bags.  

The president noted that the area was more suitable for wheat production (which had not yet been exploited properly) than other kinds of crop. Farm lands in the area are divided into small plots which, when merged and worked on with mechanized farming, could produce greater yield.

Yaregal Ayisheshum, director general of the Federal Cooperative Agency, said strengthening cooperatives was one of the development strategies being implemented to reduce poverty. The number of cooperative unions all over the country taking pat in developmet activities has now reached about 245.    

Dejene Hirpha, manager of the union said that the unionwhose capital was 140,000 birr when it was founded in 2000, had now grown to 33 million birr.  

It has been participating in the provision of agricultural inputs and credit, purchase and sale of crops, distribution of basic commodities, social services and other activities. The union has earned more than 1.8 million birr in the current fiscal year.  

Moreover, Dejene pointed out that the union was planning to run mechanized irrigation development to utilize underground and surface water in the area.  

Source: Ethiopian Press Agency