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Elfora Agro Industry inaugurated a modern slaughterhouse for export services in Ethiopia. The facility was constructed at a cost of more than 15 million birr making the number of slaughterhouses owned by the company to six.

The new slaughterhouse is designed to prepare fresh meat on the bones for export purposes. It has the potential capacity to slaughter and store18 tons of goats and sheep daily. The facility will work for three days a week to provide a total of 54 tons of fresh meat a week, 216 tons a month and 2,400 tons per annum.

The waiting area of the slaughterhouse can accommodate 10,000 goats and sheep and 4,000 cattle.

Cartridge King, Ethiopia is to expand its assembly and manufacturing operations to include ink and ribbon cartridges in the coming months.

The company wishes to a set a new standard with a state of the art facility to assemble new cartridges or to re-manufacture ‘virgin cartridges’ un-tampered by the ‘drill and fill’ operations popular in Ethiopia said Jazir Teja, Managing Director of the company.

Cartridge King has the capacity and the machinery to produce 15,000 toners, 2,000 ribbon cartridges and 5,000 ink cartridges every month he said. The company aims to establish a reputation as reliable brand with the eventual aim of expanding to the regional market.

The Aviation Academy of Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopia’s flag carrier, graduated 20 pilots and 22 Aviation Maintenance Technicians at a ceremony held at the airline headquarters on the 30th of April.

The graduating pilots completed more than 695 hours of classroom and Multi-Engine aircraft training which included 60 hours of in flight training devices. The graduates have also qualified the ICAO level-1 English proficiency requirement as part of their training.

The Aviation Maintenance Technicians graduates have been trained with B737 Aircraft Avionics system course which enabled them to acquire the required theoretical and practical knowledge to qualify then as Aviation Technicians.

The Coffee Plantation Development Enterprise of Ethiopia earned 209 million birr from the sale of coffee this fiscal year it reported.

The revenue was earned from the sale of more than 75,000 quintals of coffee that the enterprise supplied to domestic and international markets according to Fesseha Tekle Director General of the CPDE.

The most important international export destinations for the enterprise are Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands and Russia he noted.

Rose Chemicals, from Turkey and Swiss companies, CHT-Bazema and Textile Color AG, have been selected for an exclusive arrangement to supply chemicals to the textile industry in Ethiopia with a commitment to set up factories in the next five years.  

The Textile Industry Development Institute and the Ministry of Industry invited 15 international companies to make offers following persistent complaint from the textile sector about challenges associated with chemical imports.

After reviewing five proposals the three companies were selected as exclusive textile chemical suppliers in Ethiopia enjoying duty free privileges. The three companies were selected on criteria that included European quality certification, supply capacity and their commitment to respect the customs bonded warehouse rules of the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority.

The African Development Bank is set to invest 22.6 million US dollars to enhance the renewable energy programs in low income countries including those that are active in Ethiopia. The investment plan was endorsed by the SREP’s sub-committee at a meeting held in Nairobi in March.

The investment plan, approved in principle, calls for technical support and guidance from the African Bank to prepare and implement the Assela wind farm project and Phase II of the Aluto Langano geothermal project.

Grants for project preparation of 1.7 million and 900 thousand US dollars were approved for both projects.

Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa is to install city clocks in different squares around the city it was said.

The first clock was designed, assembled and installed by Yohannes Abebe Printing and Advertising Company on the square opposite of Edna mall last week. The company expects to install an estimated 500 similar clocks across the city by the end of 2013.

The clocks are aimed to provide an alternative means of advertisement by offering an efficient and effective means of displaying information serving a dual purpose according to Debebe Fekadu, Marketing Manager of the company.

Tesco, British multinational merchandise retailer, is conducting negotiations to open a mega store in Ethiopia.

Ethiopian government representatives began negotiations with Tesco as part of the efforts to invite international wholesalers and retailers to combat inflation.

Multinational companies maybe the solution to the national market which has been unable to deliver basic commodities at affordable prices according to sources.

Ethiopia is to host the 2013 African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum. Ethiopia is to host the event after senior government lobbied for the opportunity for the last four years.

Hosting the upcoming AGOA forum is an important opportunity for Ethiopia to create a platform to promote the country said Addis Alemayehu, ex-Chief of party of VEGA Ethiopia which assists Ethiopian exporters to the AGOA market under the auspices of USAID.

Ethiopia has invested more than any other African country in the AGOA sector as a result of which it has been selected to host the forum he said.

Four apparel and textile producers in Ethiopia are to wrap a 10 million US dollar deal with a group of US buyers in the next few weeks according to a senior representative of USAID Compete.

The Ethiopian textile companies involved in the deal are AYKA Addis, Addis Garment, Maa Garment and Kombolcha Textile and Calvin Kline is expected to be one of the US companies involved.

USAID Compete, is a USAID initiative which organizes Origin Africa, a yearly textile and apparel trade show in Africa. The Origin Africa event, which took place in Ethiopia for the first time this year, so 60 exhibitors representing many from the Ethiopian textile sector and about 26 buyers from the US and some from Europe.