Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) announced it traded 338,253 metric tons of commodities, worth $551.1 million (17.52 billion Birr) in the first half of the Ethiopian fiscal year that began in July 2019. The amount exceeds the target set for the period by five percent, and has shown a 28 percent rise compared to the same period last year, the Exchange said in a statement sent to 2merkato.com.
Of the commodities ECX traded during the six months, coffee accounted for 45 percent of it, sesame 31 percent, soya bean 10 percent, green mung bean 8 percent, and white bean 5 percent. Green mung bean, which has been an item recently added to the Exchange’s trading platform, has been traded three-fold of the target set for it, ECX’s statement declared.
The two electronic trading centers the Exchange set up last year had a significant contribution to the stated amount of trading. Coffee worth $786,392 (25 million Birr) has been traded at the Hawassa electronic trading center, while at the Humera electronic trading center, sesame worth $3.9 million (124 million Birr) has been traded.
Continuing its expansion of electronic trading centers, ECX is set to launch trial execution of the Nekemt electronic trading center on February 3, 2020. The physical infrastructure of Gondar and Adama electronic trading centers have also been completed, the Exchange made known.
66 market information kiosks have also been set up by ECX throughout Ethiopia, and have gone functional. A warehouse receipt financing option, through which farmers can get financing options from banks so they can store their produces at warehouses set for this purpose, has been functional since December 26, 2019, and is serving any customer of the Exchange producing corn.
In the eleven-and-a-half years ECX has been active, buyers have deposited a total of $8 billion (255.3 billion Birr) in the purchasing accounts of the Exchange, while $7.8 billion (247.5 billion Birr) has been paid to buyers via the exchange. ECX partners with 17 banks in Ethiopia to facilitate payment options.
Source: ECX Press Release sent to 2merkato.com
