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Indian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Bhagwant Singh Bishnoi

Indian leather processing chemical factory goes operational in Ethiopia

ENA

Indian leather processing chemicals PLC known as Adorn Chemicals PLC established with 25 million Birr officially started operation on Saturday.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Indian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Bhagwant Singh Bishnoi said the establishment of the company would make Ethiopia self sufficient in leather processing chemicals.

He said the company supplies its products mainly to local leather manufacturing firms. Fat liquor, pigment emulsion, spray paints and chromium sulphate are among the chemicals that are produced by the company.

Trade and Industry State Minister, Tadesse Haile on his part said the opening of the leather chemical factory would enable the country to save much needed foreign currency.

Ethiopia has good governance, stable political and macro economy which attracts dozens of Indian investors.

Many Indian companies have invested in manufacturing, chemical, agriculture and food processing industries, among others.

He called upon Indian investors to exploit the vast investment potential Ethiopia has.

Adorn Chemicals PLC is a joint venture between three leading manufacturing groups from India

Ethiopian Beer Drinking to Rise 15% on Population, Wealth

By Jason McLure

May 28 (Bloomberg) -- Beer drinking in Ethiopia will grow by about 15 percent per year over the next five years as a growing population has more money to spend, Access Capital said.

Ethiopians currently drink 4 liters of beer each year, compared with 12 liters in Kenya and 25 in Cameroon, the Addis Ababa-based research company said in an e-mailed note today.

The Horn of Africa country “could support several new large-scale beer operations,” the company said in the note.

Castel Group’s BGI Ethiopia Plc, the country’s biggest brewer, accounted for nearly half of the 300 million litres sold in the 12 months to July 7, 2009, Access Capital said.

Three state-run breweries and another owned by Ethiopia’s ruling party control most of the remaining market. Imported beer accounts for less than 1 percent of the market, the company said in the report.

Tsadkan Tinsae, former chief of staff of the Ethiopian army, is leading a group of investors hoping to raise 250 million birr ($18.5 million) to build a brewery in the northern Tigray region, Fortune newspaper reported May 3.

Ethiopia Metal industry facing hard challenges

By Binyam Tamene

Capital

A hard currency shortage is among the major challenges faced by the metal industry of Ethiopia, a new study has indicated.
The Ethiopian Association of Basic Metals and Engineering Industries has conducted a study that assesses the existing engineering and technological problems in order to find ways to alleviate them.
With the rapid advancement of technology worldwide, the study said the sector has used the new technologies well and is producing a variety of high quality products that contribute to economic growth.
“However, within this rapid progress, different problems affect the process,” said the study, which carried out an assessment in 24 local metal industries to find out the problems faced in the industry.
The assessment identified problems related to the hard currency shortage as one of the major challenges for the sector, with over two thirds of respondents saying it has impeded their businesses.
Other major challenges strongly affecting the sector include electricity shortages (62.6 percent), competition from similar imported products (60.89 percent), insufficient skill levels of employee (69.56 percent) , insufficient research and development (R and D) (79.91 percent) and a lack of cooperation with the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Another problem identified is that the industry in Ethiopia is focused on supplying its product to the construction sector.
“Most metallic products produced in Ethiopia are consumed by the construction sector. There are limited trends to build large scale industries like heavy machinery, engines and other similar parts that reduce the consumption of hard currency,” it said.
The study put forward solutions to improve the technological and engineering challenges of the industry. It is recommended that R and D is considered as one of the key solutions to lessen engineering and technological challenges so that existing industries may promote themselves to large scale industries. It said R and D can make the sector competent internationally and boost the nation’s economic growth.
Establishing links between local industries is another recommendation made by the study, as it allows a transfer of technology among them to solve engineering problems.

Ethiopia Glass factory cuts production

By Muluken Yewondwossen

Capital

A year old Chinese glass factory, Ethiopia Hansom International, has had to suspend production due to a lack of demand, according to sources.
The factory established by CGC Group and the China-Africa Development Fund at a cost of 35 million dollars was inaugurated on May 17, 2009 in the presence of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
Sources from the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the factory said the operation, which is the biggest in the region, suspended production due to an excess of stock.
Tadesse Haile, industry sector state minister within the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI), told Capital the government knows about problems, but that he had not heard about the production cessation.
He said the company’s production capacity is higher than the demand and the owners planned to export their product to neighbouring countries. “If they don’t have a market link with international customers, the stock increment is to be expected,” Tadesse explained. The minister added that the government will look for ways to help Hansom.
An official from the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Department at MoTI, who demanded anonymity, told Capital the company has written a letter to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, which was copied to MoTI, about the situation.
The official said the factory is unable to sell the products at an attractive price locally as it is using expensive imported materials, and it is also struggling to compete regionally with cheap glass imports from China and India. “The increased production cost due to an unexpected increase in the price of furnace fuel internationally is one of the factors the company has complained about,” added the official.
One reason for the lack of local demand is the variety of glass products demanded. According to experts, customers such as real estate developers are demanding coloured and value-added products, which the factory does not currently produce.
He pointed out the factory will not only meet the demand of the local housing construction industry, but will also introduce advanced production and management technologies to Ethiopia.
Ethiopia Hansom International’s annual production capacity is 42,000 metric tons of quality sheet glass. The factory covers 12,000 square metres, and has created 300 jobs.

The feasibility study indicated that Ethiopia is the country most suited to glass production in East Africa. This is because of the seven raw materials needed, four are available here.
CGC Group is an international company co-funded by Chinese organisations that works in the fields of petrochemicals, mineral exploitation, and civil engineering.
The China-Africa Development Fund is one of the eight measures announced by the Chinese president Hu Jintao at the Beijing Summit at the forum on China-Africa cooperation in November, 2006. Its mission is to promote and support Chinese enterprises to make direct investment in African countries.
The CAD-Fund opened its second representative office in Addis Ababa in March, following its outlet in Johannesburg, South Africa. The newly-opened office will help to facilitate Chinese investment activities in 10 countries: Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda.
In Ethiopia in the past three years, the fund invested in four projects, including the glass factory, a leather processing factory, a cement plant, and a four-star hotel.
Capital’s ongoing efforts to speak to the managers of the factory have been unsuccessful so far, although they have promised to answer questions next week.

AYKA Addis Photo Aykatextile.com

Ethiopia's biggest textile factory launches integrated production

By Hayal Alemayehu

Reporter

AYKA Addis Textile and Investment Group, the biggest textile factory in Ethiopia, launched an integrated production on Thursday in a ceremony attended by Prime Minster Meles Zenawi.

Having come from Turkey to Ethiopia a couple of years ago, the company has been producing yarn and textile since November 2008 in a plant its sister construction company (AYKA Construction Plc) set up in Alem Gena, a town 20km west of Addis Ababa.

With an overall projected investment of over USD 140 million, the company kick-started an integrated production including garment on Thursday while simultaneously launching an expansion project that will double the factory’s yarn production, according to Mustafa Kurshat, export coordinator of the company.

The existing factory has a capacity to produce 20 tonnes of yarn and 40 tonnes of garment (70,000 pieces) a day. It has an installed capacity of knitting and dyeing 40 tonnes of clothing, according to Kurshat.

Set up in a 200,000sq.m. premises, the company’s textile and garment manufacturing plant was built by AYKA Construction, the same company that is undertaking the construction of what will become the Group’s second yarn factory on Friday.

So far, the company has invested a major portion of its projected investment capital of over USD 140 million, Kurshat said. The company will be investing the balance in expansion projects in the coming years, according to him.

The company will entirely export its product to Europe and other major market overseas.

Including its just-started expansion project and others in the pipeline, the Turkish textile giant will provide job opportunities to 10,000 people, according to Kurshat.