Sugar prices and shortages still sour Ethiopia’s urban markets; but the Sugar Corporation, the sole manufacturer and importer says it is supplying enough volume.
The price escalation and shortage of the sweet has dogged the country for the past several decades as production and imports have failed to meet up with the growing demand and since the beginning of the Ethiopian New Year it has become one of the nation’s major issues.
Even though the problem has not gone away industries that use sugar as an ingredient in their products say they are getting enough to continue production. Gashaw Aycheluhem, Public Relations Head of the Sugar Corporation, told Capital that most of the sugar factories are undertaking production as expected while others just started recently.
He said that Metehara, Wonji, Kesem and Fincha factories are actively operating, while Kuraz 2 and Arjo Dedessa are the others which recently commenced production after the heavy rain that halted their production in the past few months.
“Kuraz 2 which began a trial test in March last year stopped production for six months because the rain affected the sugar cane collection process but since the end of last December the factory has commenced production,” he explained.
He said that Arjo Dedessa also started production, but he declined to give a specific daily production volume.
He also stated that the recently procured one million tons of sugar was imported by four different consignment periods.
“The first batch is 250,000 quintals and is already being transported from the port at Djibouti,” he said.
He said that every month the corporation is delivering up to 600,000 quintals of sugar for three different potential end users; regional customers, consumer associations in Addis Ababa and the manufacturing industry. These are the three end sugar users according to the Sugar Corporation. Gashaw stated that the Sugar Corporation is delivering the sweetener, but it is still scarce for industries and consumers.
A representative of a candy manufacturer who did not want to be mentioned told Capital that for the last several months his company is getting half of the usual quota that it secured before. He also stated that the limited supply has affected their production.
Getachew Birbo, Head of Moha Soft Drink, told Capital that in the past year and a half the supply of sugar has been relatively better than the preceding period. He said that their monthly demand is 3,000 quintals, but currently they are getting 2,200 quintals per month.
Gashaw thinks that the current shortage of their soft drinks is related to distribution methods by consumer associations or regional offices. “Distribution is the responsibility of other relevant bodies,” he said.
Currently the price of sugar is over 40 birr per kg if it is available in the market. The stated price is about three times the original price.
Consumers and some service sector professionals are complaining about the shortage. Some in the service sector including big hotels and cafes say they are unable to serve hot drinks due to lack of sugar. Customers stated that it is common to see a sugar shortage in cafes.
According to users the price of soft drinks at retail markets has also increased. Shop owners say this is because of the soaring price of sugar. However, manufacturers have denied there is an increase. According to the Sugar Corp public relations head, the sugar factories Metehara, Wonji, Fincha, Kesem, Arjo, Tendaho and Kuraz 2 have a sugarcane crushing capacity of 5,000, 6,250, 12,000, 6,000, 8,000, 13,000 and 12,000 tons per day respectively. But this does not indicate the current actual production, only their capacity.
Even though the government had plans to construct and commence production of ten new sugar factories during the first GTP (2010-2015), almost all of its projections failed.
In the past year Tendaho and Kesem that commenced over a decade ago and Kuraz 2, which was constructed by the Chinese company have been finished.
Most of the others were managed by MetEC a state industry developer. Some of these have been delayed of have performed weakly. The government has stated that sugar would be a major source of hard currency, but that has failed to materialize.
Sugar’s bitter pill continues
Jubilation, defiance as activists, political prisoners released
Celebration filled the air as the 746 prisoners were released on February 14 from the maximum security Kality prison. Prisoners including Andualem Arage, Eskinder Nega and Abebe Kesto, were released after protests in Oromia and Amhara region rocked the country over the past two years.
Abebe told Capital that the people set them free. “It is the peaceful struggle that sets us free.”
Eskinder also said that the struggle for freedom will continue. “I will start the peaceful struggle now not tomorrow,” he told Capital.
Andualem also said that he is happy that he is free. “The struggle must continue. Better things should come for all of us and a bright sunshine of democracy must shine in Ethiopia,” he said.
Their relatives and supporters surrounded the main prison gate in the afternoon cheering them as they walked free.
On February 13, Oromo Federalist Congress members including Bekele Gerba, Gurmesa Ayano, Adisu Bullala and Dejene Tafa were also released in hopes of reconciliation.
Bekele Gerba, secretary general of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), was arrested in December 2015 after mass protests broke out in the Oromia region over accusations that farmers were being forced to sell land with scant compensation.
He was held initially on terrorism charges, later reduced to incitement to violence.
Outside Ethiopia, the international community reacted in a positive yet cautious manner. German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn via phone on Monday, February 12. Her office stated that the chancellor welcomed the fact that Ethiopia had released a large number of political prisoners since the start of the year and encouraged the premier to take further steps in opening the country democratically.
The EU reacted similarly. “The release of thousands of prisoners in the past couple of weeks, including the journalist Eskinder Nega and the leader of the opposition Andualem Arage is a step in the right direction. It’s particularly important in view of this year’s local elections,” an EU spokesperson told. “We believe that the grievances expressed by the political protesters should be addressed through an inclusive dialogue with the opposition and all the components of civil society.”
The rights group Amnesty International which had been campaigning for the release of the prisoners appealed to the government to change its method of dealing with political critics. “We hope the release of this courageous journalist [Eskinder Nega], along with hundreds of other prisoners, heralds a new dawn in the Ethiopian government’s handling of political dissent, a dawn of tolerance and respect for human rights,” said Amnesty’s deputy regional director Sarah Jackson in a statement.
“The authorities must also take steps to reform the legal system under which arbitrary detentions and torture of dissidents have been allowed to flourish.” A good way to start, Jackson said, would be by reforming the country’s anti-terrorism law. “If the Ethiopian government is serious about turning over a new leaf, it must order an impartial and independent investigation into allegations of torture and other ill-treatment of prisoners,” she stated.
In addition to the prisoner release, state prosecutors also dropped charges against several government critics. Bloggers Befekadu Haile and Natnael Feleke of the website Zone 9 were arrested four years ago and accused of inciting violence through their work.
Major protests over the issue of land initially broke out in 2015. Oromia, the country’s largest province, surrounds the capital Addis Ababa and the government had proposed expanding the city’s development boundaries into Oromia. In October 2016 the government declared a state of emergency. This gave the government the power to detain people and restrict the right to free speech or to gather publicly, as well as, the right to deploy the army.
(Compiled from agencies)
USAID donates over 600,000 mosquito nets to Afar
Health bureau says awareness is increasing
The United States Agency for International Development has donated over 600,000 mosquito nets to the Afar region where around 28 percent of the population suffers from the disease.
The nets were shipped via cars and camels to distribute them to 30 Werdas in the region. The donation is part of the US President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) which launched a campaign to distribute six million long lasting insecticide treated nets in Afar, Amhara, Oromia, and Tigray states. 
The Afar Health Bureau says the region has been seeing success in their attempts to convince more people to use the nets. A survey indicated that prevention practices were on the rise and that ownership of long lasting insecticide- treated mosquito nets had more than doubled in the last five years.
Yasin Habib, is the deputy head of the region’s health bureau. He lauded the handover of the nets at a ceremony last Wednesday at Afamabo Wereda, near the Djibouti border.
“In the past, many died from this disease but now because we can provide better treatment in hospitals, distribute more drugs in the pharmacy and provide nets from donors we have made progress in fighting the disease but we still have a long way to go; just providing nets won’t solve the problem, we need insecticide treated nets, malaria control services, and to continue to raise awareness about prevention,” he said.
Malaria is a leading cause of illness and death in many areas of Ethiopia. According to the Ministry of Health, about 60 percent of the Ethiopian population lives in Malaria- prone areas and nearly two million cases of malaria were treated last year alone. Ethiopia’s national strategic plan aims to reduce malaria cases by 40 percent from 2016 figures. From 2016 to 2017, nearly 140, 000 cases treated in Afar which has a population of 25 million.
NISCO pays 19mln birr for fire damage insurance
Modern Building Industries PLC, AMAGA and Dana Trading PLC whose properties were damaged by fire received payments from Nyala Insurance S.C. (NISCO).
NISCO’s CEO, Yared Mola presented a check for 7,416,799 birr to Modern Building Industries PLC, on February 15, 2018 who lost machines, laboratory equipment, material stocks and products in fires.
AMAGA PLC and Dana Trading PLC also received checks for 5.2 million and Birr 6.3 million, respectively, against losses and damages to their respective properties.
Yared said claim payments are a moment of truth when the insurer’s credibility is really tested and Nyala Insurance by settling these claims has proved it can be trusted by its esteemed customers.
He emphasized that, apart from handling claims on time, NISCO regularly provides effective risk management and safety trainings that are vital to reassuing the business community that they are committed to them.
The company representatives thanked NISCO and its management for their prompt responses and praised Nyala Insurance for being the right business partner at a time of such big losses, and added, they are very committed to enhancing their business relations.
Previously, NISCO paid out 28.7 million birr to MBI after they lost property in a fire. NISCO has 45 branches throughout the country.
