2merkato

Ethiopia earned 213 million US dollars from the export of meat and livestock in the last 10 months announced the Ministry of Agriculture.

The export of livestock represents 71% of the revenue earned from exports while meat exports made up the difference. The revenue earned is just 62.5% of the targeted 340.4 million US dollars for the period.

Export earnings from meat and livestock is lower than expected because of the poor market ties the country has with the international livestock market said Tefera Deribew, Minister of Agriculture.

Ethiopia is to begin the export of Damask Oil, an essential oil extracted from Rosa Damascena (a type of rose) beginning in August of 2012. The oil will be exported by Terra plc to Germany, to a company called Walla Gmbh.

Damask Oil used for its medicinal and cosmetic benefits can fetch as much as 7500 US dollars a liter.

Terra, owned and managed by German investor Dr. Awad Ghanem has began a trial production of the rose with 532 seedlings supplied by GTZ. The company currently has 35 thousand seedlings said Wogderes Negash, Manager of the farm found in Debre Berhan.

Ethiopia has earned more than 368 million US dollars from the sale of traditionally mined gold in the first ten months of the current Ethiopia financial year according to the Ministry of Mines.

The revenue was earned by an estimated 6700 kilograms of gold supplied to the National Bank of Ethiopia said Bacha Fuji, Director of Public Relations with the Ministry.

The revenue earned this reporting period has increased by more than 125.1 million US dollars in comparison to the revenue earned during the same period last year he said.

Ethiopia fixed the price of cotton at 29 birr to 32 birr a kilogram to allow cotton growers to dispose of accumulated stock estimated at 106,000 tons.

The price was fixed by a committee of cotton and textile industry players with government oversight. The committee met with Tadesse Haile, State Minister for Industry and included representatives of textile manufacturers, the Ethiopian Textile Development Institute and cotton growers.