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Hyatt Palm Oil returned to the Ethiopian market this month after the government added the manufacturer FELDA iFFCO to the list of authorized oil suppliers to Ethiopia.

Hayatt had been out of the Ethiopian market for almost a year said Yeshi Kernessa, Manager of the Ethiopian Market from the manufacturers’ East Africa Regional Commercial Representative Office. Hayatt had discontinued supplying the oil after a disagreement on pricing following the Ethiopian government’s takeover as the sole supplier of Palm oil nationally.

Ethiopia is a large market and the company is happy to supply its product here according to Yeshi.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange, Eleni Z. Gabremadhin (Dr.) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigerian President Goodluck Johnathan to set up a commodity exchange in Nigeria according to the model of the ECX.

The MoU signed at the ECX office states that the Exchange will provide the assistance and the model for the Nigerian Commodity Exchange to be operational in one year.   

Nigeria already has a commodity and stock exchange markets in place although the commodity exchange is not as modern as the ECX. The Nigerian President is seeking to replace the Abuja Securities and Commodity Exchange plc with an Exchange that is driven by technology.

The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange was visited by business people taking part in the 22nd World Economic Forum on Africa, last Friday. The business people visited the various facilities of the Exchange including the trading floor and the price display boards.

The group was briefed on the evolution of the Exchange by Ahadu Woubshet, Chief Operation Officer with the ECX.  

The Exchange has seen a growth in its trading from 138,000 tons when it was launched operation in 2008 to 222,000 tons in the second year and 508,000 tons in its 3rd year said Ahadu.

Coffee exports in Ethiopia were 50% below target in the past nine months of the financial year and are expected to decrease even further.

Ethiopia had anticipated raising 1.17 billion US dollars from the export of 288,000 tons of coffee. The failure to meet targets was due to the instability of the international market claimed Kebede Chane Minister of Trade. It is expected that coffee exports will reach 70% of target by the end of the fiscal year he said.

The country exported 98,000 tons of coffee in the first nine months which amounted to 48% of target exports raising 66% of the target revenue.