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The Yirgachefe Coffee Farmers Cooperatives Union said it was planning to earn over 7 million dollars from the export of coffee during the current fiscal year.

The union hopes to earn the 7 million dollars by exporting more than 1,100 tonnes of coffee to the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Europe, Takele Mamo, general manager of the union, said yesterday.

Meta Abo is the third brewery for sale by the Ethiopian government after Bedele and Harar were sold two breweries to Heineken.

British, Dutch and South African breweries are putting bids for Meta Abo, an Ethiopian brewery which brews the Meta Abo beer. Meta Abo is located 20km west of Addis Ababa.

The government of Ethiopia has not yet revealed how much it is demanding for Meta Abo but the bids will close on September 3.

The Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise (EPE) is going to import coal from South Africa to secure sustainable supply of coal as an alternative source of energy for cement factories.

The move follows the unsuccessful bid by the Ethiopian government to acquire pet coke for cement factories.

All 12 cement factories have the infrastructure for using coal while Mugher and East are expected to finish installing infrastructure to use coal power sources by 2013.

The Ethiopian Airlines said it was planning to increase its market share in Africa by ten folds in 2025 by raising the quality of its service and number of its aircraft.

Tewolde Gebre-Mariam, CEO of the airlines, said that Ethiopian would add 70 modern, fuel-saving aircraft to its fleet.

According to Tewolde, Ethiopian's annual income has now reached 1.6 billion dollars and the company was working to raise it to 10 billion dollars. The airline’s annual number of passengers is currently over three million, three times greater than the number of passengers over the last five years.

Chinese shoe factories told Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on Friday that they were interested in investing in Ethiopia. Zan Guha Rang, president of Hu Han Zangur, a shoe factory producing 15 million pairs of shoes a year, said, that it was looking for markets in Africa, particularly in Ethiopia.

The Prime Minister, during his five-day visit to china, assured the Chinese investors that Ethiopia would support prospective Chinese investors. Representatives of various Chinese companies spoke with the Prime Minister about their intentions to invest in Ethiopia.

Delegates of General Electric, the American multinational corporation, are scheduled to arrive here next week for the purpose of holding talks with the Ethiopian Electric and Power Corporation (EEPCo) on renewable energy investment projects in Ethiopia, Mekuria Lemma, Corporate Planning Head of EEPCo, said.

According to Meheret Debebe, CEO of EEPCo, General Electric has already expressed interest in investing in Ethiopia in the renewable energy sector.

Colvir Software Solution, a U.K.-based company that provides postal software and core banking solutions, launched its products in Ethiopia last week.

Representatives of Colvir said that the company entered the Ethiopian market following the steady growth of banks and other financial institutions in the country.

VAT registered businesses throughout Ethiopia are going to start using cash register machines like those in Addis Ababa.

Officials in the Tigray Regional State started this week enforcing the use of cash registration machines the Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority (ERCA) said. The Amhara, Oromia and SNNP regional states are preparing to begin using the system.

The Central Statistical Agency said this week that Ethiopia’s inflation rate climbed to 39.2 percent in July from a year earlier.

Inflation accelerated from 38.1 percent in June, according to the agency. Food prices increased by 47.4 percent in July after rising 45.3 percent in the previous month, while the cost of non-food items fell from 27.9 percent to 27.8 percent, it said.

Stratex International, the AIM-listed gold miner, saw shares shoot up today following its announcement of "significant results" from drilling at its Megenta hot spring gold discovery in Ethiopia.

The company said that it had found new high grade samples at the nearby Akehil gold prospect.

Stratex International, along with its partner Thani Ashanti, said the latest drilling data confirmed bonanza grades were present in epithermal veins in the region and in response its shares jumped 12 percent higher.