The government’s order to prioritize fertilizer over wheat, when being transported from the Port of Djibouti to Ethiopia has meant increased demurrage costs for wheat cargo and delay in getting wheat to the local market.
The Ethiopia Trading Business Corporation (ETBC) is responsible for distributing the wheat being imported to stabilize the market and supplied to basic institutions like higher educational facilities. However, in the past few weeks the government has given priority to importing fertilizer to be distributed to farmers before the coming rainy season which begins in June.
Sources say a huge amount of wheat has been stored at the port in Djibouti called Doraleh Multipurpose Port (DMP). Currently the wheat transported to the centre is about 20 percent of what was expected, according to sources.
Sources affiliated with Promising International, one of the major wheat suppliers for the government, told Capital that at least 2,700 tons of wheat should be transported every day but the current status is very low.
The sources claimed that lack of coordination in the procurement process has created disorder on the transportation of the country cargo from the port to the centre.
“Due to the delay at the port, which is a very hot area, the wheat may face infestation at the warehouse so this will need to be disinfected which will cost more. Then there are additional charges for demurrage and scarcity in the local market,” sources said.
In late April the Federal Transport Authority in a letter signed by Abdissa Yadeta, Director General of the authority, indicated that transporting companies should fully focus on the transportation of fertilizer before the rainy season comes.
The corporation’s acting head Tariku Berasu has also asked the Ministry of Transport, to use some of the trucks to carry out the transportation of wheat.
Tariku told Capital that they have agreed with the Ministry that some of the trucks should transport wheat. “Currently wheat is being transported from the port but it is not as much as we want,” he said. He added that the issue is not only related with fertilizer and wheat but sugar as well. That cargo is being transported in a similar manner into the country.
He said that the corporation faces extra charges due to the demurrage but he does not have further information of insect infestation.
On Wednesday May 22 Promising wrote a letter to the corporation indicating any damage would be handled by the corporation. “There have been many letters sent to you on a daily basis raising concerns about slow truck deployment from your side and warning about the possibility that infestation may develop, I regret to admit that advice has not been taken into consideration by ETBC and today we have been informed that living insects have been found at the warehouse leading to the freeze of cargo uplift,” the letter stated.
“Since our contract is governed by cost and freight all liability has been passed to ETBC after goods passed the ship’s rail in discharging the port,” it added.
Experts said that lack of coordination or some sort of sabotage that the government is unaware of may be the reason for the current incident.
“Some sort of liability has to be put on those engaged in the procurement process. They apparently did not learn a lesson from last year’s incidents,” sources told Capital.
“The case is directly related with politics since wheat is distributed for daily consumption via bread factories’ millers. If the product is delayed at the port, local market will be affected by shortage,” a source said.
Tariku said that the case may be directly related with lack of planning and coordination of assigning transporters or buying some of the products early.
Tariku further said that currently the corporation is supplying the full quota to institutions and some wheat to other consumers.
Wheat imports face port problems
Ministry issues five mining exploration licenses
The Ethiopian Ministry of Mines, Petroleum and Natural Gas has granted five licenses to international and local firms allowing them to explore and produce Gold, Bromine, Gypsum and Gemstone minerals in Tigray and Afar regions.
The signing ceremony was held at the Ministry hall in the presence of the Minister Samuel Urkato, regional mining office heads and mining company’s managers last Thursday.
Tigray Resources Plc., a local mining firm, obtained two licenses to produce gold, copper and silver in Tigray regional state, which is expected to invest a total of 90.4 million USD to mine the minerals in two areas – Matso Bula and Databuk in north western Tigray.
The Ministry also signed a 12-year long Bromine production deal with Tanarmu Plc., a Chinese mining firm to explore and mine Bromine in Afar regional state, and invest over 57 million USD, according to the agreement.
Two other local companies, Best Gypsum Industry and Jimruk Ethiopia Mining, have secured licenses to explore gypsum and Gemstone, respectively.
Best Gypsum agreed to invest 2.7 million birr while Jimruk is going to spend 5.1 million birr during their three-year exploration activities.
According to Samuel Urkato the projects are expected to create over 600 job opportunities.
“The Five year contract agreements could be renewed depending on the performances of the companies and if the Ministry accepts the renewal,” said Samuel.
Samuel also informed the mining firms to adhere with their agreements and keep the safety of the public and the environment of their working areas safe while doing their job.
For the last nine months, the country earned the lowest revenue of 39.6 million USD from exporting mine products against the projected 766.9 million USD in the stated period.
According to the ministry, there are more than 200 foreign and local licensed mining companies engaged in the exploration and mining of minerals.
Global Innovation Catalyst wants half a million job opportunities for Ethiopians
Global Innovation Catalyst, an advisory services firm connecting countries in the AMENA (Asia, Middle East and North Africa) region is to provide over 10 million innovative job drives in the world by providing the resources needed to stimulate job creation, high-tech entrepreneurship, and innovation-focused economic growth.
The company plans to provide five million innovative job drives for Africa which half a million goes to Ethiopia’s innovation efforts, which means about 10 percent of Africa’s allocation.
Kamrhan Elhan, founder and CEO of Silicon Valley based Global Innovation Catalyst, met with Getahun Mekria, Ministry of Innovation in Addis on May 22 to discuss the issue of supporting Ethiopian innovation.
According to the founder and CEO of the company, Global Innovation Catalysts provide the finance and training supports that were designed to be implemented globally for the next 10 years.
“Ethiopia gets the highest share from this initiative to get training and financial support for half a million youth,” Elhan said.
“The opportunities will be given primarily for university graduates to engage in tech based employment opportunities,” said Getahun.
The company is closely working with the UN, World Bank Group and universities to create tech based job opportunities worldwide.
The initiatives should begin next Ethiopian New Year in collaboration with Stanford University.
Many partners such as the UN show their support for Ethiopia’s effort in innovation and technology by providing technical, knowledge, as well as advisory support.
Ethiopia is the 122nd most competitive nation in the world out of 140 countries ranked in the 2018 edition of the Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum, which measures the capacity of a country to innovate, including education and infrastructure, and the outputs of the economy in terms of scientific and creative output. Competitiveness Rank in Ethiopia averaged 118.33 from 2007 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 127 in 2014 and a record low of 106 in 2012.
EIC Launches Online Services Platform, Chinese Web-Portal
The Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) has launched an online services platform where investors can apply for new investment permit and its renewal.
The platform also enables online administration of investment incentives.
The Commission has also launched a Chinese web-portal that is intended to provide up-to-date information to Chinese investors.
