
Radar | Mar 30,2019
The Addis Abeba City Trade Bureau has designated six companies for the distribution of over three million litres of cooking oil from the Phibela Edible Oil Factory, a recently inaugurated plant in the town of Bure, Amhara Regional State.
A subsidiary of the Belayneh Kinde Group (BKG), Phibela has a daily production capacity of 1,500lt. The authorities believe it is a new entrant in the market that will help address the troubled edible oil supply and distribution business in Addis Abeba.
The distributors -Telsem Trading, ABTT Trading, Temesgen Kefyalew, New Trading, MCOFA Coffee Exporter, and NWG Trading - were selected by the Ministry of Trade & Industry. They will begin distributing the product to the 11 districts based on the quota allocation and price cap prepared by the City Trade Bureau.
Once the distributors deliver their quotas to the respective offices in the districts, the oil will be handed over to consumers associations, which will supply it to retailers.
Andnet Consumer Association is one of these cooperatives, which receives 54,000lts of semi-solid palm oil from the state at a subsidised price.
"Last month, we were only selling oil to kebele employees at the price of 350 Br for a five-litre bottle," Tewodros Eshetu, head of finance at the association, told Fortune. "Many people can't afford the liquid oil.”
Tewodros hopes oil from Phibela, deemed in better quality, would make a huge difference. Phibela offers its oil in bottles of varying sizes, with a five-litre bottle going for 232 Br.
"The distribution is scheduled to take place in the coming weeks, but we are facing problems in getting the oil from the factory," said Berhanu Tiruneh, general manager of ABTT trading.
Berhanu alleges that when his trucks went to Phibela to pick up the product, they were turned away.
Other distributors, however, have not reported facing a problem. Representatives from Phibela were not immediately available for comment.
The major source of the problem was that there were not many local plants producing edible oil, according to Akeberkegn Wegagen, deputy head of the Trade Bureau.
Phibela is among the 21 operational edible oil industries in the country that are producing 19.3 million litres a month using imported soybeans, sunflower and palm. On average, a person consumes 0.7lt of edible oil a month in Ethiopia, and the total demand in the country amounts to approximately 70.9 million litres. However, the overall supply sits somewhere around 47.7 million litres, satisfying only two-thirds of the demand.
Oil bottled locally can help regulate the flow of the distribution and save foreign currency for the country, according to Matiwos Ensermu (PhD), professor of logistics and supply chain management at Addis Abeba University. The increase in the number of distributors may be beneficial for edible oil to be distributed when needed, but local production alone is not sufficient to solve the problem of supply and distribution in Ethiopia, according to Matiwos.
"Technology should play a larger role in the distribution process," argued the expert.
He cited that introducing a digital tracking system would allow for better control and regulation of stocks and demand and make it easier to predict the future.
PUBLISHED ON
Apr 17,2021 [ VOL
22 , NO
1094]
Radar | Mar 30,2019
Fortune News | Nov 16,2019
Agenda | Feb 20,2021
Radar | Jun 22,2019
View From Arada | Mar 16,2019
Fortune News | Aug 27,2022
Radar | Jun 18,2022
Radar | Nov 27,2018
Radar | Jun 25,2022
Radar | Aug 28,2021
Dec 24 , 2022
Biniam Mikru heads the department of cabinet affairs under Mayor Adanech Abiebie. But...
Jul 2 , 2022 . By RUTH TAYE
On a rainy afternoon last week, a coffee processing facility in the capital's Akaki-Qality District was abuzz with activ...
Nov 27 , 2021
Against my will, I have witnessed the most terrible defeat of reason and the most sa...
Nov 13 , 2021
Plans and reality do not always gel. They rarely do in a fast-moving world. Every act...
Jan 21 , 2023
Eyob Tekalign, state minister for Finance, took to social media platforms last week t...
Jan 14 , 2023
The longing for normalcy and a semblance of individual and collective security in Eth...
Jan 7 , 2023
The hallmark of Ethiopia's contemporary leaders could be a fascination with grandeur...
Dec 31 , 2022
A change of guards in 2018 gave Ethiopians hope for better circumstances from the pre...