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A Sugar development project is in progress in Tigray Regional State, Ethiopia according to Abaye Tsehaye, Director General of the Ethiopian Sugar Corporation.

More than 40,000 hectares of land has been allocated for a sugarcane plantation, with 10,000 earmarked for the construction of a sugar factory with quarters for employees explained Abaye.

The factory is expected to create employment for 10,000 people as well as enhancing the irrigation development in the area he said.

Ethiopia has earned 172.5 million US dollars in revenue from the manufacturing sector in the last 8 months according to the Ministry of Industry.

The revenue was generated from the garment, leather and leather products, textile, chemical and pharmaceutical and agro processing sub sectors said Melaku Taye, Corporate Communication Director for the Ministry.

The money earned was 54.2 million US dollars more than the same period last year although it is just 60% of the target set by the ministry said Melaku.

The Ethiopian Sugar Corporation, made up of the Wonji Shewa, Metehara and Finchaa sugar factories in Ethiopia, produced 73,862 tons of sugar in the first two quarters of the Ethiopian fiscal year.

The sugar Corporation was able to distribute 206,372 tons of locally produced sugar in the last six months in addition to its imported stock.

The sugar factories were also able to produce 3,885,760 liters of ethanol as a by-product of sugar production to be blended with benzene to lower the costs of gasoline imports.

Representatives made up of from local tanneries and the Leather Industry Development Institute of Ethiopia are expected to travel to South and North Sudan, this week to review conditions for importing raw and semi-processed leather.

The delegation will evaluate the market and other facilities to be found in the two countries as a preliminary study before beginning imports according to sources at the Institute.  

The representatives will visit South Sudan first and go on to North Sudan said experts at LIDI.

Ethiopia expects to earn an estimated one billon US dollars from the export of textile goods by the end of the five year development plant according to Sileshi Lemma, Director General of the Textile Industry Development Institute.

All stakeholders in the textile sector including investors and the government have been exerting efforts to encourage the increase in export of textile goods explained Sileshi at a one day symposium held at the Addis Ababa Exhibition Center under the theme of 'Textile Industry and Its Prospects in Ethiopia'.