City Coop Agency Expands State-Owned Retail Outlets

With the main aim of mitigating food inflation, the City Administration is opting to build outlets that will sell fresh agricultural and industrial products.

The shops will sell teff, onions, eggs, cheese and butter along with processed products such as edible oil, soap, detergents and flour. The shops will also sell chicken, cattle and sheep during the holidays.

The Addis Abeba Cooperatives Agency, a wing under the city’s Trade & Industry Development Bureau, built the new shops over the past year. So far it has built 82 shops that rest on 50Sqm of land each. It is currently undertaking the construction of 87 more shops and plans to add 55 additional shops.

The 82 shops have already started providing service in the ten districts of the city. Yeka District has the largest number of shops with 23. Nifas Silk Laphto and Kolfe Qeranio have 17 and 10 shops, respectively. Lideta and Kirkos districts have the lowest number with each having one. The shops have a green facade.

The shops were established at the direction of the City Administration's cabinet, according to Abdu Mekuria, marketing and infrastructure follow up team leader at the Agency, which was established in 2017 after being upgraded from a small department.

“The shops will provide basic products to the residents of the city at fair and affordable prices,'' said Abdu. "They will also supply various products by creating a super and mini market-like environment.''

The headline inflation rate reached 19.5pc last month, one of the highest rates in the past five years. The rate is mainly driven by food inflation, which stood at 22.7pc.

Commodities sold at the shops are produced by regional cooperative unions. The agricultural products are transported from Meqi, Batu, Yefat and other regional cooperative unions in the supply chain.

After the opening of these shops, prices started to stabilise, according to Sintayehu Tilahun, the Agency’s market study and chain promotion team leader.

Currently, teffis being sold for 3,200 Br a quintal at all the shops, 500 Br lower than the market, according to Sintayehu.