2merkato

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.

Ethiopia save an estimated 20 million US dollars on oil imports by blending more than 32.8 million liters of ethanol with benzene said the Ministry of Water and Energy.

A major percentage of the ethanol produced within the country in this financial year was used for blending with Benzene according to Bizuneh Tolcha, Director of the Public Relations and Communications Directorate of the ministry.

The percentage of ethanol to benzene in the blending process has been increased from just 5% three years ago to 10% in the last year allowing Ethiopia to save more than 20 million IS dollars on oil imports said Bizuneh.

Ethiopia has brokered an agreement to export electricity to South Sudan according to the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation.

The agreement was signed between EEPCo and the South Sudan Electric Utility Corporation represented by Mekuria Lemma, Corporate Planning Head and Ajuoi Chol, General Manager respectively. The signing ceremony was held last week at the Radisson Blu Hotel.  

The corporations agreed on interconnection project studies and installation of a transmission line to connect to the Ethiopian grid. The agreement states that the interconnection project will be carried out in two phases.

Ethiopia earned 71 million US dollars from textile exports in the last ten months. The revenue earned is more than 50% higher than the amount earned at the same time last year although the revenue is 136.3 million US dollars less than expected.

Export of value added finished products has increased with garments sales increasing to 75.1%, woven crafts 5.2%, Textile fabrics 10.7% and yarn 9%.  

The revenue did not meet targets because of delays in textile projects expected to become operational this financial year said Fekadu Ethiopia, Communications Expert with the Textile Industry Development Institute.