Finally the Ethiopia Sugar Corporation (ESC) has opened the 200,000 metric tons sugar bid which has drawn one new comer and two regular bidders.
The bidding process faced the hurdle of postponement twice. First was when the Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Service Enterprises (ESLSE) failed to deliver the indicative prices for loading on time whilst the second instance was when the corporation gave bidders ample time for bidders to fuse their bid document with ESLSE’s rate.
The information Capital obtained indicated that the technical part of the bid was opened in the afternoon of Thursday February 24, at the Corp’s headquarters, located at the heart of the city around Kazanchis.
The common faces on such kinds of commodity bid in Ethiopia saw Sucden and ED & F Man participating in the bid, while SY General Trading Fzco – East African Djibouti Holding, made its debut by showing interest in the involvement of the latest sugar bid.
On its offer, Sucden has stated different loading ports in Asia including India, UAE and Thailand and Brazil. According to the information from reliable informants, the UK based commodity trading company ED & F Man indicated ports in Asia, though it did not attach the loading ports on its technical document.
The fresh face in the bid, SY General Trading Fzco indicated Santos Port, Brazil as its loading port.
Experts who closely followed the issue said that SY General Trading Fzco has a good stock in Brazil with highly competitive rates.
The company came up with its bid security from the Bank of Abyssinia; as opposed to ESC’s bid documents which stipulated Commercial Bank of Ethiopia for that role.
“If the bid committee approve the bid bond that is worth USD 35,000 for SY General Trading Fzco, it will be a good competitor on the bid,” an expert told Capital.
He added that the company has very cheap stock in Brazil which will make it competitive despite the logistics costs being high when compared with the Asian loading ports.
Agrocorp International which was awarded 200,000 metric tons in sugar bid with two different lots last year has not made an appearance on this year’s bid.
The firm has been able to supply the first lot of 100, 000 metric tons of the sweat, while the other was delayed by the corporation and finally annulled.
The country annually imports up to 350,000 metric tons of sugar to address the gap. ESC has targeted to produce 413, 000 metric tons in the current budget year.
In the budget year the corporation planned to supply about 720,000 metric tons of sugar for consumption.
The sugar demand has been growing from time to time and it is estimated that the country’s annual sugar demand caps at about 1.2 million metric tons. Thus the remaining gap is covered by other importers who have special permit from the government and those who have Franco-Valuta privileges.