A mandatory standard for boxes used to pack flowers for export from Ethiopia was put in place by the Ethiopian Horticulture Development Agency as of the 15th of May.
The standardization is expected to prevent the damage of flowers and the loss of revenue incurred during transport explained Haile-Selassie Tekie, Director General of the EHDA.
An estimated 30% of Ethiopian flower exports have been damaged for the last six years due to the low standard of packaging in use he claimed.
Four manufactures of packaging have recived the accreditation to produced the pacaking boxed according to the mandatory standards put in place by the Ethiopian Conformity Assessment Enterprise last SeptemberThe accredited packaging manufacturers are the Ethiopian Pulp and Paper Company, Burayu Packaging and Printing plc, Minaye Packaging plc, and Unlimited Packaging plc said Haile-Selassie.
The companies are being allowed by the government to import raw materials tax free as an incentive. This incentive and the high demand for boxes estimated at 200,000 boxes weekly will mean that the price for the mandatory packaging boxes will be equivalent to other types of packaging he explained.
It is expected that the four companies will produce close to 300,000 boxes weekly once they become fully operational in the next three months.
The Agency will extend the mandatory packaging policy to other horticulture products in the near future and will provide all necessary support to allow other packaging manufacturers to produce standardized packaging noted Haile-Selassie.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency
