2merkato

The Saygin Group subsidiary in Ethiopia is set to generate as much as 100 million US dollars per annum from textile manufacturing according to the Turkish company.

Saygin Dima Textile SC, which launched operations at its Ethiopian factory just three months ago, is looking to manufacture 50 thousand meters of fabric a day for international export said Ahmed Turan Yangin, General Manager.

The company is set to take advantage of low power costs estimated at  a third of what they would be in Turkey and wages one 20th those of the home market said Yangin.

Workers earn 600 Ethiopian birr or 34 US dollars a month for a 48 work hour said Yangin who feels that the low production costs are the most important incentive for a textile investor to choose Ethiopia.

Horizon Addis, the only tire manufacturer in Ethiopia, is set to invest 1.1 billion birr on an expansion project. Horizon is in the process of negotiations with one of the top tire manufacturers in the world, Continental Germany, to exchange its antiquated machinery for the latest equipment.

One of the new machines that Horizon is planning to install is a 30 million birr machine that can produce 80,000 pieces of light truck radial tire every year. It is expected that the new machine will begin production in the coming September allowing Horizon to supply higher quality truck and bus tires.

It is expected that the expansion program will be completed in 18 months according to Belay Dechasa, General Manager of Horizon.

Licensing for investment in the manufacturing sector has shown an increase in Ethiopia. The Ministry of Industry has licensed 56 projects in textiles, chemical, pharmaceutical, leather and agro-processing in just the last two and a half months according to sources.

805 million birr in capital has been invested in Ethiopia between January-March in projects expected to employ more than 3450 permanent and 3850 temporary people when fully operational.

A total of 1043 projects were licensed with a total capital of 31.2 billion birr in the last year.

The industrial sector in Ethiopia is growing by an average of 10.8% in the last few years said the Ministry of Industry.

The sector has grown by 15% in just the last year accounting for 13.4% of the GDP noted Tadesse Haile, Minister of State for Industry.

The manufacturing industry is enhancing its competitive edge on the international market increasing foreign trade he said.

GH Industrial plc, manufacturer of gypsum board and gypsum flour in Ethiopia, is to inaugurate two factories in the Amhara Regional State.

The gypsum board factory has the capacity to produce 4.2 million m2 of gypsum boards, will the gypsum mill is able to produce 50 thousand tons of gypsum flour per annum said Awel Buseri, Vice General Manager with GH.

The factories were turnkey projects with components imported in China and installed by Chinese engineers he said. The project took two years from the initial feasibility study to the final installation according to Awel.