2merkato

The Ethiopian Mapping Agency put out an invitation for companies interested in conducting aerial photography in digital format and photo-grammetric processing last week. The tender will remain open until the 15th of December.

The invitation includes aerial photography of 23 major urban areas including Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa and regional states in an effort to prepare a national cadastral map.

A fertilizer shipment worth 264.8 million US dollars is expected to arrive next week. The 450, 000 tons of fertilizer is supplied by a Swiss company, Amropa- Ag and Indiargo.

The fertilizer purchase is less than the Ethiopian government's plan to import two years worth of fertilizer in the expectation that international prices will increase. Price increases already in effect limited the government to the purchase of supplies for just one year. Current fertilizer prices have risen from 491 dollars to 503 dollars for a ton of Urea and from 590 dollars to 630 dollars for a ton of Dap fertilizer.

Ethiopian cement factories, Mugar and Messobo, have requested that the government halt cement imports in letters to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. The cement factories claimed that they can produce enough to meet local demand.

The cement factories have excess stock according to an anonymous official at Mughar. The two factories have increased their annual production by a total of 1.7 million tons following expansion projects.

Five Ethiopian packaging manufacturers applied for quality certification to produce the standard boxes for flower exports. The standard packaging was established by the Ethiopian Conformity Assessment Enterprise.

The five companies requiring certification for the production of the packaging are Addis Ahadu packaging plc, Balaji Packaging plc, Burayu Development plc, DA packaging plc and Ethio pulp and paper SC.

The companies have presented sample boxes manufactured according to the specifications set and which are undergoing testing by the ECAE. The ECAE is expected to announce the results of the testing in two weeks time.