2merkato

The first International Conference on Ethiopian Coffee organized by the Ministry of Trade, the Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association in partnership with USAID and the commercial bank of Ethiopia was opened in Addis Ababa.

The conference is being held under the theme of ‘Strengthening the Legacy of Our Coffee’ and aims promote Ethiopian Coffee on the international market. It is expected to facilitate the exchange of experience among stakeholders and enhance the transfer of information so as to allow the coffee sector to take advantage of key opportunities and resolve challenges.

More than 15 million Ethiopians are directly and indirectly with the coffee sector according to Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn speaking at the opening. Ethiopia enjoys a comparative advantage in trading coffee which has allowed the nation to trade more volume and to increase its increase share of the global market and to enhance the export income he said.

The construction of the first phase of the Modjo-Hawassa Expressway project, stretching from Modjo to Meki begins today, December, 10, 2015, Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported.

The first phase of the Yayo Fertilizer complex, Ethiopia is complete four months ahead of schedule.

The project was awarded by the Ethiopian Metal and Engineering Corporation, which owns the factory, to Tekleberhan Ambaye Construction in March for 792 million birr.

The contractor has completed the ground work ahead of schedule by mobilizing large numbers of manpower and equipment according to Ato Tekleberhan Ambaye, Owner and Manager of the construction company.  

The company had initially planned to finalize the groundwork which mainly consists of clearing within the project by was able to exceed expectations because of its manpower management system he added.

The Endowment Fund for Rehabilitation of Tigray is building the first PVC resin plant in Ethiopia with a capital investment of seven billion birr. The plant will manufacture other industrial chemicals as well as PVC resin.

The plant will be constructed in Tigray Regional State near on a 48 hectare plot of land which has large deposits of limestone. It is expected that the plant will have the potential production capacity of 60,000 tons employing a method of production that is known as the limestone to calcium carbide to acetylene route.

EFFORT floated the first tender for the plant a year ago drawing interest from international bidders but cancelled the bid before floating another bid last week for the consultancy service to execute the project.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Ethiopia's Long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) at 'B'. The Outlooks are Stable. The issue rating on Ethiopia's senior unsecured foreign currency bond has also been affirmed at 'B'. The Country Ceiling has been affirmed at 'B' and the Short-term foreign currency IDR at 'B'.