Coffee exporters accessing the bean from the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) claim that the supply has shrunken which has affected the fulfillment of their contracts. Meanwhile, the record generation of the bean is expected to hit a billion dollars this current year.
For the claim raise by exporters, the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority (ECTA) explained that the vertical market integration has enabled farmers to directly export their products which may reduce the supply in the exchange.
The exchange which accepted the supply reduction also supports the argument of the authority.
Exporters who communicated with Capital claimed that the supply of coffee at the trading floor has reduced from time to time due to that they are unable to do their business as usual trend. They said that the products from western sources are not adequately supplied.
Netsanet Tesfaye, Corporate Communication Head of ECX, said that the supply reduction is not seen not only from the western part of the country but also from all sources.
He said the coffee trading has got additional alternative besides ECX, which is the sole platform to trade the product except some who have a right to do the business separately.
Unions and large scale farmers were allowed to bypass the commodity exchange scheme for export, while the rest are supposed to trade their product through ECX.
“ECX has been considered as one alternative for the coffee trading according to the new policy, thus suppliers or farmers shall directly be connected with exporters without the system of ECX,” Adugna Debela, Director General of ECTA, said.
The Directors General explained in terms of quality, traceability and regarding accessing the bean on time the new scheme has become better since buyers and exporters prefer the system.
“Under the vertical integration last year we have exported 28,000 metric ton in the past budget year but when it comes to the recent performance it has spiked,” he said.
In the first quarter of 2021 the export on vertical integration alone was 100,000 metric tons, “which shows how much it boosts the earnings,” Adugna added.
Actors integrated on the new scheme were 300 in the past budget year which has now reached 2,500. “Due to that the supply to ECX has reduced,” the authority head justified.
The other issue exporters argued is that the illegal trade/ contraband is the other challenge for the access of coffee at the trading floor. They said that suppliers with lower level local government officials involving on the contraband.
Netsanet said that contraband is also one of the problems in the sector, but he said that the authority and Customs Commission are responsible for follow on the same.
Adugna said contraband is an existent problem that is not expected to fully halt but it is necessary to assess the root cause for products channeled on illegal way. “Traders prefer the risky contraband business to get better value since we pay better value for quality products, it is evident that the illegal trade shall crush and that is what we are doing now.”
“Using technology is also enabling to traces the illegal channel. To archive that we have developed tracking software and the implementation process is on the way,” he added.
The authority has targeted to achieve USD one billion earning from the coffee export in the 2020/21 budget year that will end on July 7. Since the new scheme was introduced, the export volume and value has climbed even from the projection.
Netsanet said that the supply of coffee to ECX may have been reduced, the actual export earnings is growing compared with the preceding year.
For instance in March, ECTA has been projected to generate USD 106 million but the actual achievement was USD 107 million. For April, the target was USD 111 million but the earning was USD 114 million.
In related developments, ECX has announced that it will introduce ‘micro lot trading platform’ to trade specialty coffee on once in a month time.
Wondimagegnehu Negera, CEO of ECX, said that the new initiative will enable farmers to sell their high quality coffee directly to interested buyers with extraordinary value.
He said the initiative will encourage farmers to come up with premium coffee that boosts their revenue.
On its inception, farmers who will be involved on the micro lot trading are 52 which also are participants of the 2021 Cup of Excellence.
Kidist Mulugeta, Cup of Excellence Coordinator, on the 2021 Cup of Excellence said, 1848 competitors samples have been submitted and top 150 samples have passed for the second stage and 40 of them are in the final top round.
“So the remaining 110 competitors are eligible for micro lot trading and from them the 52 have agreed to trade their products on the micro lot trading on the trading that will be held on May 31,” Kidist explained.
From the top 40 specialty coffees, who will trade their bean on international online auction on allianceforcoffeeexcellence.org on July 7, the first 30’s have achieved 87 points and above.
The initial price on the international bid is USD 5.5 per pound.
Coffee supply shrinks at ECX
ETHZEMA criticizes gov’t ahead of elections
Ethiopian citizens for social justice party accuse the ruling government on its commitment to building a democratic system, claiming that it is weak.
On press conference given on Thursday May 28, 2021 by ETHZEMA, the party has said that there are many gaps in the current election and the government’s commitment to building a democratic system is weak.
“There have been many problems with our election campaign and the overall process, following the 2021 election campaign, the ruling party continued to be an obstacle to the democratic process,” said ETHZEMA on its statement.
As the party explains, members of the ruling party are working hard to intimidate voter registration which can affect the electorate and voting on Election Day. “There have been various disruptions in the registration process from the beginning of voter registration on March 24, 2021 until April 25, 2021, when the registration was scheduled to be completed,” the party highlights.
Also as the party said, these challenges have continued after the voter registration deadline was extended, “there were incidents of polling station staff such as late opening, closing in the afternoon and disrupting the voter registration process.”
As the accusation of ETHZEMA stated that the first voter registration process has been a major challenge in the so-called polling stations, especially in the Afar, Somali, Benishangul-Gumuz, South (Omo, Gamo, Gofa, Silte, Kembata, Hadiya, Kefah, Bench Maji) zones. Even in the last few days, the polling stations in these areas have remained virtually unoccupied.
As the officers of the party remarked, some of the problems have been reported to the National Election Board of Ethiopia /NEBE/ and have been resolved, “we have seen positive efforts by the NEBE to address the challenges.”
“We believe that the ruling party has placed forces in the vicinity of the polling station during the voter registration process by doing certain disruptions, including creating an image that there is no difference between prosperity and other parties, going door-to-door trying to force them out of the polling station by giving them their ballot papers and threatening them.”
“Such threats have spread in the community, leading to skepticism and low participation in the election,” the ETHZEMA party stated.
“The ruling party is struggling to implement a system of electing its successor, the EPRDF, which has failed, with one-tenth of the electorate calling it a “prosperous family” without the consent of the electorate,” stated ETHZEMA.
According to the party, in some part of the country voters could not register because they are members or leadership of political parties.
“Particularly in the Southern Region, those who came to register to vote said they could not testify because they were members of a political party or leadership,” the party elaborated.
“On the other hand, we have seen that in the polling stations we visited, people who were not employees of the Electoral Board were sitting and registering as a witness for those who came to register without a document or a witness,” ETHZEMA critiqued.
“We firmly believe that our country can overcome the multifaceted problems by forming a democratically elected government and we will continue to fight and fight until we have a government that is voluntarily appointed and abolished by the people,” said ETHZEMA.
The Ethiopian Kidney Care launch
On the 27th of May, in the presence of the Ministry of Health representatives’, the Ethiopian Kidney Care launched its formation.
“Our non-profit organization is working on the kidney health and kidney disease with a focus on three core goals, which is to; create awareness about kidney diseases and kidney health, research and kidney patient support. The objective of this launching event is to introduce our organization and what it has been doing since its inception and its future projects ahead,” the founder and chair-person of the Ethiopian Kidney Care explained.
The organization is set on a bedrock that envisions to better the lives of people through prevention and proper management of kidney diseases in Ethiopia and further seeks to promote kidney health through awareness creation, disease prevention, education research, support groups and community empowerment to decrease the burden of kidney disease in Ethiopia.
A panel discussion comprised of health professional and patients is one of the components of the program that focuses on kidney disease and its burden on our society.
The state of 12th grade examinations
Ministry of Education plans to give 12th grade university entrance exam for 2020/21 students before the national election date, that is, under a month. According to the ministry, similar to the previous year’s candidate this year’s batch will also take the exam with a print route as opposed to digital.
Last Thursday the national board of election had announced a new Voting day from the pre-set date of June 5 by delaying the democratic event by two weeks to June 21. According to Huria Ali, state ministry of education, told Capital that the ministry is preparing to give the national exam before the national Election Day which will be described in the coming week.
As she explains even though the ministry had planned to digitalize the examination, the plan had failed again this year and will be given in print form. Last year’s 2019/20 national exam which was delayed due to the global pandemic was also said to be given digitally but ended up not following through with the same.
The Ministry of Education can be recalled to giving statements that for the first time 12-grade university entrance examinations of 2019/20 would be given online and students to that effect would be given 450, 000 tablet in total. In addition to alleviating cheating, online exams were also seen as a tool to save both time and money and would be the future of administering quality education when the Ministry introduces it. However, as a result of delay in importing the equipment, the ministry had changed its plan, and this year the chance of having a digital examination is slim.
According to the Ministry of Education (MoE), more than 358,000 students took the national university entrance exam following a Covid-19 induced delay to pursue higher education in the upcoming academic year 2020/21 (2013 E.C.). In Addis Ababa alone, more than 23,560 had taken the exam. The Ministry of Science and Higher education (MoSHE) announced that 147,640 students will be expected to join 47 government universities having met the academic threshold.
Briefing reporters, a top official of the National Educational Assessment and Examinations Agency (NEAEA) said improvements both in terms of results and number of examinees has been observed this year. Half of the students who sat for the 2020 grade 12 national exam have scored 350 and more, revealed Ethiopia’s Examinations Agency.
Up to 55.7% of students who sat for national exam have scored 350 and above, besides, at least 700 Students have scored 600 and beyond. On Friday May 21, The Minister of Science and Higher Education, Dr. Samuel Urkato, announced that students who have completed their higher education entrance exams will be admitted to their assigned universities by June 8, 2021.
Out of the more than 147,000 students who passed this year’s examination, 206 students with high marks have been assigned to the desired field of study, he said.
