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Ethiopia: Nation Set to Increase Agricultural Productivity by 15%

The Ministry of Agriculture said activities are being carried out to increase agricultural productivity by 15 percent during the current production year, Ethiopian News Agency reported.

In a press conference held on last Wednesday, public relation head with the Ministry Tarekegn Tsige said the Ministry has set target to achieve the goal by increasing use of irrigation, utilization of fertilizers, compost and improved seed by farmers.

The Ministry envisaging to enable 70 percent of households to get access to water banks, a system which helps each household have a reservoir, according to Ethiopian News Agency.

Over 920,000 hectares land has so far has been covered with fruits, spices and root seed, Tarekegn said.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Allanasons Ltd. to Build Meat Processing Plant in Ethiopia

Allanasons Ltd, India's largest exporter of processed food products, signed an agreement with the Ministry of Industry establish a meat processing plant, Walta Information Center reported.

The agreement was signed in Addis Ababa on Wednesday, January 1, 2014 by Meberatu Melese, Industry State Minister, and Aman R. Kahan, representative of Allanasons Ltd.

Meberatu on the occasion said, the establishment of the plant would help to improve Ethiopia’s meat export.

It would also enable the pastoral community to benefit from its animal resources as well as the leather industry, he said.

In addition to promoting technology transfer, the plant to be built on 75 hectares of land around Zeway, Oromia Regional State at a cost of 371 million birr will create employment opportunities for residents of the locality, he added.

Allana chooses to build the plant in Ethiopia taking into consideration the country’s li…

Oromia International Bank Introduced Interest-Free Banking

Oromia International Bank (OIB), a private financial institution, become the first to implement interest-free banking [Islamic banking] in Ethiopia.

A recent National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) directive allowed banks to provide interest-free banking service using a separate window along with their other banking services.

On Thursday, September 16 2013, the NBE granted the first interest-free banking service license to Oromia International Bank.

“We have been the first bank to send our application to NBE to commence the service since NBE issued detailed directives a year ago,” Abi Sano, President of Oromia International Bank, told Capital

“Since our application, we have been carrying out preparations to commence operations, which we will start within three weeks,” he added.

Oromia International Bank was established October 25, 2008 and has 68 branches in Addis and all over the country and has set a target …

Diageo Planning US$ 50 Million Expansion in Ethiopia

Diageo, the London based alcoholic beverages company is planning to invest at least US$ 50 million in the Meta Abo Brewery soon, according to Capital.

Diageo’s Marketing Director for African Regional Markets, Ekwunife Okoli, said the company will be investing in the expansion of the Meta Abo Brewery.

“We are going to invest in expanding our brewing capacity as well as our packaging capacity. Currently, we are constrained in regards to both. So, there will be a new packaging line as well as expanding our brewery capacity” Okoli stated.

Construction work on the expansion is set to start in two months within the premise of its brewery is currently located.

“The demand for our brand has kept growing; that is why we are putting significant investment into expansion,” Okoli said.

Diageo became the third European company to invest in Ethiopia’s alcoholic beverages industry after it acquired Meta…

Icelandic Company to Develop Geothermal Power in Ethiopia

Reykjavik Geothermal, the Icelandic geothermal development company has agreed to develop as much as 1,000 megawatts of geothermal projects in Ethiopia over the next 10 years, according to Bloomberg.

Reykjavik expects to start drilling test wells next year, Chairman Michael Philipp told Bloomberg in an interview on September 27, in New York.

The plant will produce 10 MW by 2015, and a total of 500 MW by 2018. A second phase of the project may have a capacity to produce as much as 500 MW of energy. Ethiopian Electric Power Corp. has agreed to buy all the electricity under a 25-year contract, Bloomberg reported.

East Africa's Great Rift Valley, which stretches across eight countries, have an estimated 20 gigawatts of geothermal energy potential, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The project, which will be the largest geothermal power undertaking in the continent, is planned to be located in Corbet…

Habesha Brewery Offers Additional Shares for Sale

Habesha Brewery is offering additional 300,000 shares to its existing shareholders after failing to get adequate bank credit.

Habesha has plant to install a brewing plant with annual capacity of 500,000 hectoliters in Debre Berhan Town, 120 KM outside of the capital, Addis Ababa.

The project is projected to cost 631 million Ethiopian birr. However Habesha has raised 40 per cent of the project after the acquisition of 43 per cent of its shares by the Dutch brewer, Bavaria NV.

The latest sale of shares is expected to raise Habesha's paid-up capital to 550 million birr.

Currently Ethiopia's largest brewer is BGI Ethiopia with brewing plants in Addis Ababa, Kombolcha and Hawassa with combine annual brewing capacity of 1.9 million hectoliter.

Source: Fortune

Yangfan Motors Expanding its Assembly Plant in Ethiopia

Yangfan Motors P.L.C., a Chinese based Company, is to expand its vehicle assembly plant in Ethiopia at a cost of US$4.2 million.

The company has been assembling vehicles during the past four years in Ethiopia. Yangfan Motors signed agreement on Thursday for purchase of its assembling and manufacturing facility with Eastern Industry Zone located in Dukem, Oromia Regional State.

Liu Jiang, the Company's General Manager on said the company has supplied close to 3000 vehicles to the Ethiopian market so far.

The new plant, which will go operational within the next six months, will increase the company's annual production capacity to 5000 units from the current 1000 units.

Source: ENA

Ethiopian Airlines Wins Bombardiers Airline Reliability Performance Award

Ethiopian Airlines, the fastest growing airline in Africa, is pleased to announce that it has won the 2013 Airline Reliability Performance Award from Bombardier Aerospace. This is the third time Ethiopian has won the award in a row.

The award was given to Ethiopian for achieving an average dispatch reliability rate of 99 per cent or better on revenue passenger flights in 2012 and stood first in the overall Q-400 product category for the Middle East and Africa region.

“We are pleased to receive the award for the third year in a row. This is a testament of our dedication for excellent customer service which is in continuous improvement every day,” said Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian.

From left to right: Diane De Souza, VP Parts Services at Bombardier Customer; Kidus Melkamu, Manager Turbo Prop and Light Aircraft Maintenance at Ethiopian MRO; Zemene Nega, AVP Ethiopian MRO and Todd Young, VP, Customer Servi…

ERA Contracted Chinese Companies for Road Upgrade Project

Ethiopian Roads Authority last week signed agreement with two Chinese construction companies to upgrade the Kombolcha-Bati road to asphalt concrete level. The 133 KM road project is estimated to cost the Authority close to 2.8 billion Ethiopian birr.

Construction of the road, which is scheduled to be completed in three years time will be fully financed with a fund secured from the World Bank. The project is part of the fourth Road Sector Development Program (RSDP IV) of the Authority, for which implementation costs are estimated to reach 125.3 billion birr. Out of this, 84.5 billion birr is allocated for federal projects, 14.4 billion birr for regional and 26.4 billion for weredas, the smallest administrative subdivision.

The RSDP is part of the Ethiopian Government's Road Sector Development Program (GTP), tasked to upgrade 728 KM of trunk and link roads and construction of 4,331 KM of new link roads.

The Ethiopian Roads A…

TCDD to Assist Ethiopian Railways Corporation

The Turkish State Railways (TCDD) has agreed to assist Ethiopia in technology transfer, restructuring its railways system and to give training to its personnel.

Ethiopia has asked for assistance from TCDD via the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) in order to reactivate its railways between the capital Addis Ababa and Djibouti, which has been stopped since 1997.

In a meeting held at TIKA’s office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the TCDD and Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC) has agreed on cooperation on numerous areas.

According to the agreement, TCDD will prepare operational regulations, help in ERC’s structuring and give technical support in railway building, supervision, observation, projects and agreement, give training to the personnel and build capacity for human resources, give technical support in transfer of technology and share knowledge and experience in the administration of immovables.

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