The Ethiopian Maritime and Transit Service Enterprise (EMTSE) received instruction from the Ministry of Industry last week to prepare port facilities for handling coal imported by Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise (EPE).

It was reported in Mid August that the Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise (EPE) was going to import coal from South Africa to secure sustainable supply of coal as an alternative source of energy for cement factories.

The move came following the unsuccessful bid by the Ethiopian government to acquire pet coke for cement factories.

All 12 cement factories have the infrastructure for using coal while Mugher and East are expected to finish installing infrastructure to use coal power sources by 2013.

A task force comprising representatives from the MoI, ESL, MTSE and five major cement factories has been considering the import of coal in relation to available supplies in countries within close proximity and advantageous pricing.

Considering proximity and cost effective prices, South Africa was chosen as a supplier to Ethiopia.

The factories require about 694 million tonnes of coal over the coming four years. Over the next twelve months the factories demand 896,500 tonnes of coal.

Ethiopia has about 628 tonnes of coal reserves in Semen Shoa, Amhara Regional State and Illubabur, Oromia Regional State.

The United States, China and Russia are the leading coal producers with proven recoverable coal reserves of 237.2 million tonnes, 114.5 million tonnes and 157 million tonnes respectively.

Source: Fortune