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The Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency of Ethiopia is expected to put up nine state owned farms for privatization in the next financial year. PPESA plans to privatize the farms on a full management agreement.

The nine farms to be privatized are the five farms operated by Arsi Agricultural Development Enterprise and the four managed under the Bale Agricultural Development Enterprise.

The AADE farms are Arba Gugu, Goffer, Garadila, Lole and Temela while the BADE farms consist of Sinana, Robe, Herero and Hunte farms.

Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopia’s flag carrier, is to launch cargo flights to Europe and the Middle East from airports in Bahirdar and  Mekelle.

The groundbreaking initiative is intended to promote investment in regional cities by allowing businesses located there direct access to international markets said Dereba Kuma, Minister of Transport.

The airline expects to provide cargo services for meat and horticultural products from these airports explained Dereba presenting the seven month performance report for the transport sector to the House of Peoples Representatives.

The Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency approved the bids made by MIDROC Ethiopia and affiliated companies for five of the eight companies up for privatization.

The approval from the agency was announced last week at the same time the agency declined the offer made for Awash Winery and withheld making a decision on offers for two other companies.

MIDROC Ethiopia and affiliated companies, Horizon Plantation Ethiopia, National Mining Corporation and Saudi Star Agricultural Development, proffered the highest bids for five of the eight companies put forward for auction by PPESA.

Ethiopia’s export earning are up by 16.6% in the last eight months as compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year noted data released by the Ministry of Trade.

Revenue from export was 1.87 billion US dollars while earnings for the same period last year was 1.6 billion US dollars.

The increase in revenue was due to higher earnings from oil seeds and gold although the revenue from the number one national export coffee has shown a decline showed the report.

A delegation of British business people held talks with representatives of Ethiopia’s business sector to explore opportunities for commerce in both countries.

The delegation, made up of 10 representatives from London met with more than 30 Ethiopian business representatives.

The discussions held with the delegation from the UK will promote the flow of information, enhance knowledge development, promote the transfer of skills and technology and strengthen confidence for bargaining as well as removing barriers against business interaction according to Teferi Asfaw, Deputy Secretary General of the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations.

Metal industries in Ethiopia need to implement Non-Destuctive Testing technology to ensure that products meet international standards according to Dr. Abdul Nasser, Industrial Technology Section Head with the Malaysian Nuclear Agency.

NDT technology is a mechanism to guarantee quality and allow industrial products to gain competitiveness on the global market he said at a training held in Addis Ababa.

The technology will contribute toward the development of the industrial sector in developing countries noted Dr. Nasser.

The Metal Engineering Corporation has issued an invitation to all Grade one licensed contractors in Ethiopia to participate in its projects according to sources.

Seven companies of a total of 44, who presented their company profiles in response to the invitation, were selected.

The seven companies include Sunshine Construction plc, Tekleberhan Ambaye Construction plc and Sur Construction plc. The companies will form a consortium to consult the Corporation on its construction processes.

Ethiopia is to increase its import of palm oil and sugar in the next budget year. The government plans to increase the import of palm oil by 56% and sugar by 11% according to the Ministry of Trade.

The decision to increase imports was reached with two thirds of the previous imports still in stock at various warehouses operated by the Merchandise Wholesale and Import Trade Enterprise.  

A change in the size of containers from larger 20 liter jerry cans to smaller 5 and 10 liter ones in the next round of imports is expected to solve issues with distributing oil seen said sources.

The export of coffee from Ethiopia has declined by 38% in the first eight months of the financial year, as compared to the same period  last, according to data from players in the sector.

The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange has consequently eliminated the 5% +/- price range for coffee intended to regulate against price fluctuations on the international market last week.

The range will not be applicable on the trading floor of  Exchange until the price of coffee stabilizes on the international market said Dr. Eleni Z. Gebremedhin, Chief Executive of the ECX.

Ethiopia is in the process of negotiations with multinational retailer Walmart to facilitate the entry of the corporation in the Ethiopian market.

A delegation sent by the Ethiopian government met with officials from the US based corporation last week according to sources.

The Ethiopian government is considering the move to invite Walmart as part of ongoing efforts to curb the surge of commodity prices.