2merkato

Car sales slowed down in Ethiopia over the last week causing major importers of used cars to marginally cut prices.

Importers say that the latest trade and tax regulations are to blame for the slowdown. Industry observers on the other hand say that the increase in production and number of importers during the last few years have contributed to the slowdown.

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) signed yesterday power transmission project contracts worth around 330 million dollars with companies from ten countries.

Indian companies take the biggest share of the contract winning three contracts worth more than 50 million dollars. 

Among the companies which entered into agreements with EEPCo are Energoinvest DD of Bosnia & Herzegovina, ALISTOM GRID of France, ABB AG of Germany, AECOM of USA-Canada and Norinco International Limited of China.

The projects are expected to be completed within 12 to 24 months.

Allana Potash Corp., which has started feasibility study on its potash property in Ethiopia, announced yesterday that its common shares would start trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange at market open today.

Allana said that its stock symbol would remain "AAA".

Farhad Abasov, Allana's President and CEO, said that trading on the Toronto Stock Excange would enhance the company's already strong trading liquidity and attract a broader investor base to Allana.

Coffee exports from Ethiopia rose by 38 percent in the fiscal year to 7 July 2011 as shipments of the beans jumped, the Ministry of Trade said.

In a statement released yesterday the ministry said that the total amount of coffee exported over the period reached 2.8 billion dollars.

Coffee was Ethiopia's biggest source of revenue raising 841.7 million dollars from 196,118 tonnes of beans shipped.

The Ethiopian Airlines is going to launch an Addis Ababa-Seychelles flight. The airlines will be operating one flight every week on Sundays, landing in Seychelles at 3:00 pm and departing in an hour.

Ethiopian has filed for slots to fly to the islands of Seychelles during the winter 2011-2012 schedule, which is the period starting 30 October 2011 to 24 March 2012.

The Ethiopia Airlines is one of Africa’s leading carriers, whose efficiency and operational success are not rivalled in the continent.

Abay Bank, one of the private banks in Ethiopia, is going to float shares worth 200 million birr to the public as of this month.

The bank is generating the outstanding amount of 174 million birr of initial start up capital by selling shares which have been floated for the last two years.

According to Mesenbet Shenkut, president of Abay Bank, the authorized amount of capital will be fulfilled in the coming week.

The bank’s growth of capital from 300 million birr to half a billion birr was approved by shareholders at the general assembly in March.

Allana Potash Corp. announced yesterday that it had signed a feasibility study contract with ERCOSPLAN Ingenieurgesellschaft Geotechnik und Bergbau for its Ethiopian Potash Project.

The feasibility study is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2012 and will begin immediately.

Additional equipment is being mobilized to the site and expansion of the camp is underway according to Farhad Abasov, president and CEO of Allana.

Ethiopia is planning, in partnership with Castel (a French wine making group) to start exporting wine from the vineyard near Ziway, 170km to the south of Addis Ababa.

The site was chosen in 2008 and 750,000 vines were planted, employing a labour force of 750, mostly local people.

"We want to export nearly half of our production, especially to the United States, which has a large Ethiopian community," Robel Seido, head of sales at Castel, said. According to Seido, the other half of the production will be set aside for the local market, but it will be of a better quality than the few existing table wines in the country.

Stratex International, the AIM-listed gold miner, discovered more gold from drilling at its Megenta hot spring epithermal gold discovery within its exclusive exploration licence at Tendaho in the Afar Regional State.

These include high grade intersection of 19.50 g/t Au over 0.70 metres in hole MG-DD-12 with the potential for bonanza grades veins.

These occurred within zone of 4.49 g/t Au over 3.25 metres about 70 metres below surface and extend the target zone 460 metres along concealed graben edge. The priority target zone at Megenta now extends over 3 km.

Ayat Real Estate bought Addis Ababa Ras Hote, one of the oldest hotels in Ethiopia, for 124.4 million birr last Thursday.

Three other companies had bid for the hotel. Sheger Investment offered 121.6 million birr; GCf Plc, in a joint venture with Solomon Admassu, offered 100 million birr; and Nebeyu Ketsela, an individual, offered 100 million birr.

Ayat has already paid 46 million birr, 37 percent of the 124.4 million birr for the hotel, and is scheduled to pay the balance over the coming five years.