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The annual export performance for the 2006/07 fiscal
year revealed that Ethiopia exported 1.18 billion
dollars worth of commodities, falling short of the
1.5 billion dollar initial target. However, the
Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) report showed
exports have registered a 17.5pc growth from that of
last year meeting 78.2pc of its target.
Export items sent abroad in the budget year are
divided into 29 categories. The main revenue
generating commodities next to coffee are hides and
skins, grains, oil seeds, spices, khat, gold
and tantalum.
Though coffee is the number one foreign currency
generator, it only fetched 424.1 million dollars,
lower than the 488 million dollar goal the
government set. Grains, oil seeds and spices jointly
were projected to fetch 343.7 million dollars but
export earnings from these commodities stood at
267.5 million dollars. The same goes for khat,
which managed to fetch 92.8 million dollars while
the expectation from the stimulant was 110 million
dollars.
Though most commodities fell short of their targets
in terms of the amount of revenue expected, six
export items surpassed their targets; gold, cotton,
sugar, wax, natural honey and pikle hides and skins.
Gold exports of 5.58tn were projected to generate
68.5 million dollars. However, though the amount of
gold exported was close to the initially aimed
figure, the 96.9 million dollar revenue generated
significantly exceeded the forecast at the beginning
of the fiscal year, showing 141.3pc achievement.
This is primarily attributed to the skyrocketing of
the international gold price to around 700 dollars
per ounce from 300 dollars two years ago.
Cotton, like gold, has also surpassed its target by
159.5pc; in the same budget year, 11.7tn of cotton
was exported, fetching 14.3 million dollars, above
the government’s intention to export 9.7tn of cotton
valued at 8.9 million dollar.
Export income from natural honey was projected to be
420,000 dollars from 92tn, but this also has been
surpassed by 280.7pc with exports of 406tn which
brought 1.1 million dollars.
The two major export items of the country that
failed to meet their targets are meat and live
animal and textile exports. Though the government
targeted 93 million dollars from the export of meat
and live animals, it only managed to secure 52
million dollars. This significant under performance
is said to have followed the sanctions imposed by
the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – the destination of
60pc of the country’s export - on Ethiopian
livestock and livestock products on January 14, 2007
due to scares caused by the outbreak of Rift Valley
Fever (RVF) in Kenya.
The textile sector was another failure, only
fetching 12.6 million dollars of the targeted 62.4
million dollars.
“Government plans were ambitious and they were based
on the assumption that the new textile factories
currently under construction would begin operation,”
an official at MoTI told Fortune. “However,
none of the textile factories undergoing
construction have started operating to meet the
desired target as the raw materials are in short
supply.”
Ethiopia’s last year exports were valued at one
billion dollars, which at the time was the largest
in the nation’s export history.
“Though the 17pc growth from that of last year is
commendable, the fact that six sectors over
performed by more than 150pc and the others
significantly fell short of their targets indicates
that there is still a lack of concrete planning,” an
economics lecturer at Addis Abeba University (AAU)
told Fortune.
According to Ethiopia’s Plan for Accelerated and
Sustained Development to end Poverty (PASDEP), the
export sector is intended to grow by nine per cent
each year.
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