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Ethiopia concluded a 337 million euro loan agreement with the government of France yesterday.

The government of France offered 70 million of the 337 million as a grant and the balance as a loan.

The money is intended to be used to finance the country’s five-year Growth and Transformation Plan, especially development programs in the energy, urban infrastructure, agriculture as well as water and sanitation sectors.

Source: Walta Information Centre

Over 1,600 kg of gold was supplied to the central market from Guji Zone of the Oromia Regional State over the last nine months, Mines Office of the zone said.

The amount exceeds the set target by 100 kg and that of the same period last year by 549 kg, Mekonnen Lema, head of Mines Development Administration Office, said.

The cooperatives in Guji, which supplied the 1,600 kg of gold to central market this year, are preparing to supply more than 2,000 kg of gold to the market for the coming fiscal year.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Ethiopia has earned more than 2.4 billion dollars in foreign exchange over the last 11 months meeting 82 percent of the plan, the Ministry of Trade said while presenting this year’s performance report to the Trade Affairs Standing Committee of the House of Peoples' Representatives. 

Source: ERTA    

Ethiopian Coffee Exporters' Association (ECEA) and the Chinese Guangzhou Coffee Association (GCA) signed yesterday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the promotion of the Ethiopian coffee brand in the emerging market of China.

The MoU was signed by Emebet Tafesse, vice president of ECEA, and Lin Guangchao, chairman of GCA, during a ceremony held in the ECEAconference hall.

The MoU is designed to create a joint partnership between the Ethiopian Coffee Exporters' Association and the Guangzhou Coffee Association for the purpose of encouraging coffee consumption and culture.

The ECEA statement said that the two associations had agreed to assist Ethiopian coffee exporters and Chinese coffee importers to come together and promote coffee trade and investment between citizens of the two countries.

The MoU includes for the two associations activities like organizing and carrying out coffee-related researches and promotional programs.

Source: Walta Information Centre

The price of food rose to 40.7 percent in May from 32.2 percent in April according to Central Statistical Agency’s (CSA) consumer price index released on Tuesday, 14 June 2011.

Food price was deflating at the beginning of the current fiscal year. But since September prices have been escalating after the birr was devaluated against the dollar by 17 percent. The overall annual year on year inflation has now reached the two-year mark.

After assessing the situation in Ethiopia, the International Monetary Fund mission three weeks ago said that rising prices would slowdown the country’s economic growth. IMF’s prediction put Ethiopia’s economic growth for the coming fiscal year at around six percent which contrasts with the government’s estimate of 11 percent.

Source: Capital

Adami Tulu Pesticide Processing SC is scheduled to inaugurate mosquito nets and herbicides factories built at a total cost of 26 million birr in August.

The factories will be constructed by Adami Tulu, a government owned company established in 1998, near Ziway, Oromia Regional State, at a cost of 40.5 million birr.

The machinery for the mosquito net factory was imported from China. It is expected that the factory will save Ethiopia 4.5 million dollars, which accounts for about 40 percent of the cost of importing mosquito nets annually.

"When it reaches full capacity, the factory will produce all three million mosquito nets thereby saving the country up to 14 million dollars in foreign currency with the expertise and technological knowhow from the Chinese company," Samuel Samuel Halala, general manager of Adami Tulu, said.

The factory will buy emulsifiers and mineral fillers locally, while it will import other raw materials like active ingredients for pesticide production.

Adami Tulu had planned to make 154 million birr this fiscal year; however, it collected 97 million birr over the last 10 months. In the planting season, however, it expects to earn more than the target in the coming two months.

Source: Fortune

Resumes domestic, regional flights

Ethiopian Airlines announced yesterday that it had launched a new flight service to Malakal, South Sudan, effective as of 17 June 2011. Ethiopian will provide the new flight services four times a week.

The new flight service to the oil rich town of Malakal is Ethiopian’s second destination to the South Sudan and the 62nd international destination.

“The new flight services to Malakal provide the best connectivity and convenience for business people as well as the general public of the South Sudan,” Tewolde Gebre-Mariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, said.

Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Airlines announced Saturday that it had resumed all domestic flights to to Axum, Bahir Dar, Gondar, Dire Dawa, Humera Jijiga Lalibela, Makelle and Shire and regional flights to Khartoum and Djibouti which had been temporarily suspended because of the volcanic ash cloud as of Monday, 15 June 2011.

The decision to resume flights was made based on meteorological forecasts which indicated that the ash cloud from the volcanic eruption in Eritrea had cleared. And the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority had confirmed that the northern Ethiopian airspace was now safe to fly according to Abebe Angessa, director of Ethiopian Domestic Market and Sales Service.

Ethiopian is making more than 60 domestic flights each week.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Allana Potash could consider expanding potash mining operations at the Danakhil potash project in Ethiopia with a larger production facility in an upcoming feasibility study, Farhad Abasov, president and CEO of Allana Potash, said.  

The company was planning a production of 1million tonnes of potash a year, according to Abasov who said that it could increase its production goals.

The company declared yesterday a much anticipated resource expansion and upgrade which confirmed the substantial size of its potash beds. From a previous 100 million tonne inferred resource, Allana cracked out a 673 million tonne measured and indicated resource at 18.65 percent potassium chloride (KCl) with a further 596 million tonnes at 19.96 percent KCl in the inferred category. Abasov noted that the resources would form the basis of a feasibility study slated for later this year.

Abasov said that talks were underway with partners for off-take and financing agreements covering its Danakhil potash project.

In 2009 Allana had signed on China Minerals United (CMU) as strategic investor with both agreeing to negotiate a 20 percent off take agreement in return for 35 percent or about 280 million dollar portion of Danakhil's construction costs. But the CMU deals has not been finalised yet.

The potash mineralization in the Danakil Depression is well known, with mining carried out sporadically from the early 1900s. Other mining corporations in the basin include BHP Billiton and India's Sainik Coal Mining, which is planning to start mining at the Musley deposit.

Source: Mineweb

Ethiopian Potash Corp. was listed on the OTCQX and that it had begun trading on the OTC market's highest tier, OTCQX under the symbol "ETPHF", David Wahl, President and CEO, announced yesterday.

Soloway Group LLP will assist as Ethiopian Potash Corp's Principal American Liaison on OTCQX, responsible for providing guidance on OTCQX requirements.

The OTCQX marketplace is the premier tier of the U.S. Over-the-Counter market. Investor-focused companies use the quality controlled OTCQX listing platform to offer investors transparent trading, superior information, and easy access through their regulated U.S. broker-dealers. The innovative OTCQX platform offers companies and their shareholders a level of marketplace services formerly available only on a U.S. exchange.

Ethiopian Potash Corp. is a Canadian company based in Toronto, Ontario and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The company has acquired a 481 sq km potash asset, in the Danakil depression of northern Ethiopia.

It is to be recalled that George Roach, board chairman of Ethiopian Potash Corp, had announced in the last week of May 2011 that the company's drilling rigs were in the process of being commissioned and were expected to start operation early in June.

The Danakil Depression has one of the largest undeveloped potash resources in the world. The fact that it lays almost on the surface of the ground as opposed to those in Saskatchewan, which are found deeper than one kilometre in the earth, testifies to its significance. Ethiopian Potash Corp has two neighbouring development concessions covering 481 sq km in the centre of the Danakil Depression.

Source: Marketwire

Mesfin Industrial Engineering launched Saturday an assembly plant for Addis Car in partnership with Geely International Corp, a Chinese manufacturer. Addis Cars will assemble Geely cars powered by 1.3cc engines and equipped with double airbags and an anti-breaking system.

Mesfin has been assembling trucks and this is the first time for it to assemble automobiles. With the machinery the company imported for 10 million birr, it is capable of assembling five Geely automobiles at a time and over 800 a year.

Mesfin Industrial had imported 34 completely built units of Geely cars to test its appeal to middleclass customers at the end of 2010. The cars were sold at 285,000 birr each, which encouraged Mesfin Industrial to install the assembly plant, according to Yusuf, manager of sales and promotion at Mesfin Industrial.

Mesfin also has the sole distribution rights in Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan where Geely is not licensed to distribute. The company has been the exclusive importer and distributor of Geely cars in Ethiopia since August 2010.

By February 2011, 13 vehicle and tractor assembly companies were licensed and started operation. Some of companies are owned by foreigners, according to the Ethiopian Investment Agency.

Source: Fortune