2merkato

The cereals market in Ethiopia has shown a degree of stabilization with a slight decline in the price of produce.

The price of cereals declined or remained constant due to a mehar harvest expected to be bumper in spite of an irregular rainy season. The harvest is expected to increase the supply of staple grains on the market with and lead to a further decline in prices later on this year according to a report issued by the United Nations Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Add a comment Add a comment

The Ethiopian Metal and Engineering Corporation announced a profit of 181 million birr for the past financial year. The corporation registered a profit for the first time having recorded a loss of more than 381 million birr in its first year of operation.

METEC was able to register profit by addressing problems with the majority of the nine companies under its umbrella that had failed to perform in the previous financial year according to Kinfe Dagnew, General Manager of the corporation delivering an annual performance report to the House of Peoples Representatives.

The corporation’s revenue has shown a significant increase to 16.7 billion birr from a little over half a billion birr the previous budget year he noted. It plans to enhance its revenues to 28.4 billion birr in the current fiscal year although it has only managed to collect 4.5 billion birr as gross revenue in the first six months.

Construction work for the 500 thousand hectoliter beer producing plant owned by Ethiopian brewer Habesha Breweries SC is under way. The plant is to be constructed according to a turnkey contract agreement between the brewer and Chinese contractor Lehui.

It is expected that construction of the plant will be concluded within fifteen months according to the arrangement reached between the parties. Major shareholder Bavaria N.V, the Dutch company with 39 percent of the shares of Habesha handled most of the negotiations with the contractor to ensure that the first bottles of beer will reach both the local and international markets within the next fifteen months. Add a comment Add a comment

Ethiopia expects to produce fertilizer locally in time for the next crop season according to a report presented to the House of Peoples Representatives by the Metal and Engineering Corporation.

The country planned to build eight fertilizer factories as part of its development agenda with five factories designated to produce DAP fertilizer and the remaining three to manufacture Urea fertilizer noted General Kinfe Dagnew, Director of the corporation presenting the report.

It is to be remembered that a feasibility study conducted in the Yayu area of the Oromia Regional State last year led to the decision to build a fertilizer complex revising the initial idea said Kinfe. Currently the plan is to build two Urea and one Dap fertilizer factory as part of the complex he explained. Add a comment Add a comment

Total, Ethiopia, is to move its headquarter offices to a four storey building around the African Union Commission as its current location is in the way of the Addis Ababa City Light Railway under construction.

The railway project will demolish more than one half of the company’s headquarters close to the Gotera Interchange necessitating the move to building it had just rented said Jonathan Molapo, Chairman of Total Ethiopia.

The company is happy to pay this small sacrifice to support the increasing pace of development in the country as evidenced by the significant infrastructural development project including the railway said Molapo. Add a comment Add a comment

BGI Ethiopia launched a new draught beer, under the newly introduced Amber brand, said Esayas Hadera, Marketing Manager of BGI. The new draught beer was officially announced this week although the company had been promoting in selected areas in the past few weeks.

The brewer is currently producing the new draught beer at its plant in Addis Ababa although the other BGI plants located in Hawassa and Kombolcha are expected to begin production soon said Esayas.

BGI has installed more than 200 new draught beer dispensers, each costing an estimated 100 thousand birr, for the new beer in Addis and other regional towns according to Surafel Alene, Sales Director of BGI. It is expected that an additional 200 machines will be installed to increase the market for the new product he noted. Add a comment Add a comment

The Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority affirmed that the tax levied on undistributed dividend applies to private limited companies and share companies.

The authority contradicted the claims made about the legality of the tax by members of the business community claiming that the tax proclamation served as the framework for the application.

The authority will enforce the payment of ten percent of accumulated net profit earmarked for distribution amongst shareholders even if it remains undivided said Melaku Fenta, Director of the ERCA speaking at meeting he had with members of the business community protesting the law last Saturday. Add a comment Add a comment

The Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority is to introduce what is known as a ‘customer charter’ designed to ensure better services for taxpayers.

The charter introduced by the authority at a discussion with taxpayers and other stakeholders at the Addis Ababa, Ghion Hotel details 28 major services and specifies time frames for service delivery.

Some of the services detailed and the time frame allotted to them include tax payer registration expected to take no more than 10 to 30 minutes, closing a business should take no more than 30 minutes, help with operating a cash register machine, 5 to 20 minutes, duty free privilege service no more than 2 days and clearance services 30 minutes according to the charter. Add a comment Add a comment

The Metal and Engineering Corporation urged the Ethiopian government to create a policy solution for the challenges associated with the taxed imposed on imported goods.

The tax imposed on imported manufacturing goods and raw materials for industrial use which are essential to the manufacturing process are much higher in Ethiopia than in other countries said Kinfe Dagnew, Brigadier General of the Corporation speaking to the House of People’s Representatives.

The tax imposed on locally manufactured goods are lower than in other countries of similar economic status which is encouraging to manufacturers but the taxes levied on imported equipment vital to the manufacturing sector remain high he added. Add a comment Add a comment

The Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Academy graduated its most recent batch of graduates this week. The Academy graduated a total of 90 graduates.

The aviation Academy graduated 65 cabin crew trainees who had undertaken three months of training at the Academy said Samuel Assefa, Vice President of the Academy speaking on the occasion of the graduation.

The remaining graduates, a total of 25 graduated from the Modularized Aviation Maintenance Technical School after 11 months of training he said. The almost year long training included general and specific courses according to Samuel.

The academy is training crew and staff to meet the demand for trained personnel for Ethiopian Airlines as well as others to play its part in the development and modernization of the aviation sector nationally and regionally he noted. Add a comment Add a comment