ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia made $47 million from gold and tantalum exports in the first half of its financial year, the ministry for mines and energy told Reuters on Wednesday.

"Most of the money was made by Midroc Gold Co., which earned $40 million from exports," spokesman for the ministry, Bacha Fuji, said.

Midroc is owned by Ethiopian-born Saudi business tycoon Sheik Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi.

Tantalum exports by the state-owned Ethiopian Mines Development Share Association, earned more than $4 million, Bacha said. Tantalum is used in consumer electronic products.

The rest of the money was made by the country's national bank from exporting gold found by artisan miners.

An Italian business delegation, organised by the Italian Institute of Foreign Trade, has been in Addis Abeba since last Wednesday to participate in the 14th Addis Chamber International Trade Fair (ACITF).

The delegation represented eight Italian companies and Consorzio Italy, a consortium of 15 entrepreneurs.

In October 2009 a larger delegation of 30 Italian businesspeople were in Addis Abeba to explore investment opportunities in Ethiopia.

The group met with Tadesse Haile, state minister for Trade and Industry. This group was interested in supplying medium size solar energy technologies to Ethiopia.

Four bidders have offered tenders for the acquisition of the 47-year old Ethiopia Hotel with a wide margin of nearly 40 million Br between the largest and smallest offers.

The hotel was one of 12 enterprises put up for sale by the Privatisation and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency (PPESA) including Erer Gota Farm, Nefas Silk Paint Factory, Addis Abeba Bottle & Glass SC, Addis Abeba Foam and Plastic Factory, Brick Products Processing SC, Agricultural Equipment and Technical Services SC, Kality Food SC, Dire Dawa Food Complex, Hammaressa Edible Oil SC and Commercial Printing Press.

Fifteen bid documents were sold for the hotel when PPESA announced the sale. But only four were found to have offered their tenders at the official opening day on February 15, 2010, at the enterprise’s office on Africa Avenue (Bole Road). Bazeto Industries and Trading Plc made the highest offer at 91 million Br. Asrat Gelete’s 52 million Br was the least. The other bidders were Belayneh Kinde and Haileyesus Teferi.

The Export and Import Bank of China (EXIM) has shown keen interest to finance a substantial portion of ESL’s (Ethiopian Shipping Lines S.C) loan demands for the procurement of nine new ships with an aggregate carrying capacity of 350,000 tonnes. EXIM could provide up to 80 per cent of ESL’s construction costs; about 240 million dollars. The deal reveals the Ethiopian government’s shift from its traditional creditors.

ESL has already signed a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese-based manufacturing company for the construction of seven container and bulk cargo vessels with a capacity of 28,000 tonnes each and two fuel carrying vessels with a capacity if 41,500 tonnes each.

However, the definitive agreement remains unsigned due to credit arrangement, Ambachew Abreha, managing director of ESL said, while discussing his company’s half fiscal year performance on Monday February 15, 2010.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian private equity firm Citadel Capital's food unit is in advanced talks to buy an Ethiopian food firm in its bid to boost self-sufficiency in raw materials, the unit's chief executive told Reuters.

Gozour's Mohamed El Rashidi did not name the Ethiopian company, but said talks could be concluded in four months.

"It is a perfect fit for us," he said late on Sunday, referring to the Ethiopan market. "There are 80.7 million people in Ethiopia, with a heavy consuming base and 60 percent of the country's GDP (gross domestic product) is from food."

The move would follow the acquisition in November of a majority stake in a Sudanese biscuit and sweet maker by Gozour, the consumer foods business of Citadel, which manages $8.3 billion in investments.

"This company (in Ethiopia) operates in a market that hosts one of our main raw materials," Rashidi said.

Ethiopian Airlines says first Bombardier Q400 to arrive in March

Source: ENA

Ethiopian Airlines announced on Thursday that the first Bombardier Q400 aircraft among its order for Canadian plane maker Bombardier Inc. will arrive on March 22, 2011, the state-run Ethiopian News Agency reported.

Domestic Sales, Marketing and Operations Director of Ethiopian Abebe Angessa said Ethiopia had signed a purchase of agreement with the Canadian company to buy eight Bombardier Q400 aircrafts at a cost of 192 million USD.

The director said the remaining seven aircraft will arrive by September 2011.

He said each aircraft worth 24 million USD can carry 72 passengers. The director said Fokker aircraft which have been serving the last 15 years would be replaced by Bombardier Q400 aircraft.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia moved trade in its specialty coffee to an Addis Ababa-based commodities exchange on Wednesday, instead of selling the beans at overseas auctions.

Up to 30 percent of the beans from Africa's biggest coffee producer are classified as premium, but higher prices for the fine coffees were not trickling down to farmers, the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) said.

"Farmers will receive a minimum of 85 percent of the final export price," ECX said in a statement. "A historic first for Ethiopia's coffee farmers who (normally receive) below 40 percent, among the lowest share of the final price in the world."

Ethiopia, which prides itself as the birthplace of coffee, had been talking to key layers in the global specialty coffee industry since November on how best to handle the trading of premium brands.

Premium coffees will now be traded once a month in Addis Ababa with international buyers given the chance to test the coffee before bidding.

ETV Reports: ESL earns 203m Birr net profit in 6 months - Watch the Video news

Addis Ababa, February 17, 2010 (Addis Ababa) Maritime and Transit Services Enterprise (MTSE) said it is to finalize the construction of a 21 storey building, which is among the tallest buildings in the metropolis.

MTSE General Manager Ahmed Yasin told ENA that the multipurpose building has unique features.

The top part of the building will be revolving so that tourists can see the magnificent view of the metropolis at a glance, he said.

Kuma Demeksa’s debt ridden Addis Abeba City Administration is to wallow still deeper into debt, following the authorisation of a further 250 million Br bond sold to the state owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE).

The administration has already borrowed 3.5 billion Br from the CBE, one billion Br from the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) and 500 million Br from the Ethiopian Insurance Corporation (EIC) over the past two years of its reign. It sought further support from the Federal Government three months ago, after a budgetary crunch which affected construction projects.

The Prime Minister’s Office responded by instructing the CBE to make the money available to the administration on bond.

Experts in the Federal Government see this as far from an isolated case.

It could signal the beginning of a trend whereby the Federal Government encourages city administrations across the country to issue their own bonds in order to access finances to pay for their public infrastructure work. But who would provide guarantees to these bonds in cases of default is an issue that has been debated among officials of the administrations, the bond issuers, and the Federal Government.

The Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) is to take yet another loan at 1.4 billion Br from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) in its bid to fulfil its lending commitments, estimated to reach over three billion Birr, which are approved for a series of companies, including some in the export sector.

The bank extended 876 million Br in loans in the first six months of the 2009/10 fiscal year. It started seeking loans itself because it was short on cash to meet its lending target of 2.4 billion Br for the year, according to Esayas Bahre, president of the DBE.

The decision to lubricate the investment financing arm of the state came after a national export committee, chaired by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, decided, last week, to respond to the demands of the DBE’s managers for additional financing. A month ago, they requested the additional financing either through a capital injection or through bonds from the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE).

The Addis Abeba City Administration is preparing to invest in the ownership of the Anbessa Bus Transport Enterprise as it is transferred through the Privatisation and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency (PPESA).

The City Adimistration general manager’s office has conducted a study that recommended the need for further investment and the continued subsidy of the enterprise to curb the city’s transportation problems.

Prior to this, however, the enterprise had to settle ownership transfer issues with the PPESA and the Addis Abeba Transport Authority (AATA). The three have already reached an agreement, three months ago, that the city should own the enterprise.

“A study is being conducted to assess the current state of the enterprise,” City General Manager Mekuria Haile said, “and to identify how the investment will be made.”

Currently, there are 540 city buses under the enterprise, nearly half of which are out of service due to technical failures. The enterprise operates 93 routes in and around Addis Abeba. Each bus has a capacity for 100 passengers (30 seated and 70 standing).

Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Ethiopia’s state-run power utility, the Ethiopian Electric Power Corp., has ordered factories in the country to halve energy consumption following the collapse of a tunnel that halted production at the country’s largest power plant, Capital reported.

Repairing the tunnel to the Gilgel Gibe II hydropower station could take as long as two months and cost as much as 18 million euros ($24.5 million), the Addis Ababa-based newspaper said, citing Mihret Debebe, general manager of the utility.

Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese buyers are keen to resume imports of Ethiopian coffee and will help farmers to improve the quality of their beans and to comply with required standards, a Japanese food-trading company said.

A team of Japanese coffee importers will visit Ethiopia next week to meet government officials, coffee farmers and exporters to help them improve quality, Tomohiro Ishiwaki, of Ishimitu Co., said today in an interview in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa.

Japan halted deliveries of coffee from Ethiopia in May 2008 after finding “abnormally high” pesticide residues in a shipment of the beans. Japanese officials demanded that Ethiopia find the source of the chemical and prevent future contamination.

A new authority is to be established under the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) with special responsibilities for the lakes in the Rift Valley.

The ministry has hired a consultancy firm, Generation Consult, with which it signed an agreement worth 1.8 million Br to study the situations and propose the structure for the new authority. Five firms, including Desta Horecha Water Supply Engineering, ITAB Consult, and Omega Development had offered their tenders following the ministry's invitation on October 27, 2009.