Director-General of the Food, Beverage and Pharmaceutical Development Institute in Ethiopia Solomon Tadele has revealed that the country has, over the last eleven months received $77 million in the current fiscal year from exports of edible oil and similar products.
Tadele who recently addressed reporters said that the performance accounts for 87 percent of the plan set to the reported period. Oil crop, spice, cereal, cane crops and pharmaceuticals were the primary commodities in foreign currency earnings.
The initial target for food, oil and related crops export for the month of May was $8.7 million. The performance has been surpassed by 22 percent and it has generated $10.7 million. The director-general claimed that the export of value-added products contributes significantly to the success.
Meanwhile, Tadele highlighted that the country has improved competitiveness by providing export incentives, customs duty exemption, income tax holidays, and offering land at competitive lease price in order to ensure self-sufficiency in the edible oil production and currently 40 percent of the total consumption is locally sourced.
In February, the country inaugurated PhiBela Edible Oil Factory worth US$113.7 million in the Amhara regional state built by the multi-sectoral company, Belayneh Kinde Group.
The inauguration of the new edible oil factory comes barely a year after French development financial institution Proparco and Ethos Mezzanine Partners announced a US$22 million investment into Turaco, an Ethiopian FMCG holding company.
The government has been paying due attention to attract private investments in the edible oil industries and to improve competitiveness by providing export incentives, customs duty exemption, income tax holidays, and offering land at competitive lease price.
He added that the institute has executed thorough interventions to address the sector’s lack of skilled labour force and boost the export performance.
In a related development, the export earnings from Ethiopia’s staple food Injera rose from $5 million to $25 million in the reported period. The institute earned $66 million from exports within the last fiscal year.
