Obituary | Jul 13,2020
The hard lesson that bakery owners in Addis Abeba have learned over the last decade is that the industry is not as profitable as it used to be. Shortages in the supply of wheat have meant less flour to produce baked items leading to shutdowns, furloughs, downsizing and slimmer profits.
Number of wheat growing farmers
The shortages have been a recurring theme for the last eight years, forcing the government to subsidise wheat for bakeries that agree to sell at government-fixed prices. But the intensity of the shortages has meant that no wheat was distributed last December, while the supply quota was halved in January and is expected to be the same this month. Bakeries like Shoa Bakery & Factory Plc, which operates 16 branches in Addis Abeba, bypassed the quota system and procured their own supply in the open market and nearly doubled prices for all their baked bread for a single day on January 31, 2019. The City Administration intervened and channeled the full quota to major producers like Shoa, Misrak, Rose and Hanan bakeries, forcing them to sell at the government-fixed prices for bread of 1.30 Br for 100g, 2.55 Br for 200g and 3.80 Br for 300g. The authorities attribute the shortages to problems in the procurment process of 200,000tn of wheat slated for this fiscal year.
Experts maintain that this is a symptom of a broader economic failure that is leading to food insecurity. Despite Ethiopia’s 20 million wheat farmers engaged in production, the nation imported 1.7 million tonnes in the last fiscal year at a cost of five billion Birr.
You can read the full story here
PUBLISHED ON
Feb 09,2019 [ VOL
19 , NO
980]
Obituary | Jul 13,2020
Radar | Jul 30,2022
Verbatim | May 18,2024
Viewpoints | Nov 30,2024
Viewpoints | Apr 10,2021
In-Picture | Mar 16,2024
My Opinion | Sep 07,2019
Commentaries | Feb 26,2022
Agenda | Mar 28,2020
Commentaries | Mar 01,2024
Dec 22 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Charged with transforming colossal state-owned enterprises into modern and competitiv...
Aug 18 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Although predictable Yonas Zerihun's job in the ride-hailing service is not immune to...
Jul 28 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Unhabitual, perhaps too many, Samuel Gebreyohannes, 38, used to occasionally enjoy a couple of beers at breakfast. However, he recently swit...
Jul 13 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Investors who rely on tractors, trucks, and field vehicles for commuting, transporting commodities, and f...
Dec 21 , 2024
The main avenues and thoroughfares of Addis Abeba have undergone an impressive faceli...
Dec 14 , 2024
Ethiopia's monetary policy has shifted conspicuously in recent years. Gone is the era...
Dec 7 , 2024
For decades the Ethiopian Petroleum Supply Enterprise (EPSE), a state-owned giant ent...
Nov 30 , 2024
In the corridors of government offices worldwide, the question of how much to pay mem...
Loading your updates...