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The federal government has once again failed to
attain its mark in export in its nine-month
performance this budget year. Against its initial
target of securing 1.28 Billion Br in proceeds from
exports in the first nine months, the government
only made one billion Br.
In the 2007/2008 budget year, the Ministry of Trade
and Industry (MoTI) has targeted fetching 1.7
Billion Br from commodities export, an amount
slightly higher than its previous budget year's goal
of 1.5 Billion Br.
The country needs to export over half a billion
worth of commodities in order to hit the spot, which
is 70pc of what it has so far achieved in the budget
year.
This does not seem realistic for close observers of
the export market.
"Exporting commodities worth 700 million Br in three
months is going to be a daunting task for the
country," an official at the MoTI told Fortune.
The failure is attributed to an under performance of
industrial products while agricultural exports have
registered a better record; 337 million dollar
revenue was secured from only coffee followed by
other agricultural commodities -cereals, grain, oil
seeds and live animals.
Processed commodities, which have restrained the
overall performance, include leather and leather
products, and textile. From the 100 million mark
initially set by the MoTI from the export of leather
and leather products, only 74.4 million dollar has
been achieved in nine months.
Textile was also a disappointment. The country
earned merely a third of its 29.5 million Br target
from its export in the first nine months of the
budget year.
According to a source at the Ministry, due to the
slow progress of the textile factories that were
projected to begin operation this year. Leather and
leather products fell short of target because of an
export tax slammed on these items in January this
year to discourage the export of semi-processed
leather.
Ethiopia earned 1.2 billion Br from exports in the
2006/2007 budget year. Though this is 300 million Br
lower than the target, it is 17.5pc higher than the
previous year's earning.
Export items sent abroad in the budget year were
divided into 29 categories. The main revenue
generating commodities next to coffee were grains,
oil seeds, spices and Khat.
Though coffee is the number one foreign currency
generator, it only fetched 424.1 million dollars,
lower than the 488 million dollars 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.
The federal government wants its export revenues to
grow by five per cent annually.
Despite the current shortfall, an official at the
MoTI argues that the government is exerting efforts
to change the course after two years. The MoTI has
set out to revolutionize the export of textile,
leather, meat as well as commodities from the
construction industry and agro-processing sector.
According to its five year strategic plan, the
government expects to earn half a billion Br from
the export of textile in 2010. However, when only
two years are left to reach the target year,
Ethiopia is not even earning 20 million dollars a
year. From export of leather and leather products,
Ethioipa expects 221 million Br annual proceeds in
2010.
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