Medtech Ceramics Manufacturing Plc is scheduled to take delivery of two ceramic manufacturing machines in three months and commence production seven months after that.

Mohammed Nuri (MD) general manger of the ceramic factory, said “The main aim of the factory is to substitute imported ceramics’’. “We decided to establish the Company because thanks to the recent construction boom there is high demand for ceramic products which cannot be met by current production,’’ he furthered.

Medtech was established six months ago jointly by Medtech Ethiopia Plc and Sheikh Faisal bin Al Qasimi, chairman of Julphar Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries, and Star Group Holdings. It is a ceramic and sanitary ware products manufacturer. It was established with a capital of 450 Million Birr.

Medtech Ethiopia owns 30 percent of the ceramic and sanitary manufacturing company while Sheikh Faisal and Star own 30 percent and 40 percent respectively.

Currently the company has finished the construction of its factory building in Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples State. The company and the Ministry of Mines (MoM) have identified an area adjacent to the factory site, where the company will mine red ash.

During the 2012/2013 fiscal year Ethiopia imported ceramic products that are worth four Billion Birr.

According to Fortune, Medtech’s goal is to produce 30,000 square meters of floor and wall tiles per day as it starts production in September 2015.

Mohammed explained the company is going to get 98 percent of its input locally. The remaining two that will be imported include including dices, mixers and colouring materials.

According to him Medtech that is already planted in Butajira is at phase one. Phase two, he explained, is getting land for the project in Addis Ababa,

Currently the only ceramic manufacturer in Ethiopia is Tabor Ceramic Products S.C. it was founded in 1989 and it manufactures ceramic electrical insulators, table ware products, sanitary products and tiles.

Source: Fortune