Ethiopia is to increase its import of palm oil and sugar in the next budget year. The government plans to increase the import of palm oil by 56% and sugar by 11% according to the Ministry of Trade.
The decision to increase imports was reached with two thirds of the previous imports still in stock at various warehouses operated by the Merchandise Wholesale and Import Trade Enterprise.
A change in the size of containers from larger 20 liter jerry cans to smaller 5 and 10 liter ones in the next round of imports is expected to solve issues with distributing oil seen said sources.
The government is committed to enhance efforts to supply and distribute wheat, palm oil and sugar until market fluctuations stabilize noted Ali Siraj, Minister of State with the Ministry of Trade.Recent shortages on the market can be attributed to shortage of transporters following port congestion according to Ali.
The Ethiopian government is considering different options to alleviate supply problems including inviting international suppliers.
It is to be remembered that Ethiopia is in the process of negotiations with multinational retailer Walmart to facilitate the entry of the corporation in the Ethiopian market.
A delegation sent by the Ethiopian government met with officials from the US based corporation last week according to sources.
A group of experts representing the government have also been on a visit to India to review how such companies were attracted in to the market there.
Source: Addis Fortune
