A local automotive and industrial paint factory built for 40 million Br in Dukem, Oromia Special Zone, will commence operations in half a year. Asmam Coatings & Chemicals Plc, which is mainly financed by the Development Bank of Ethiopia, the state policy bank, is currently finalising the construction of its waste treatment plant and shed.

DBE has financed 27.5 million Br of the project after it inked a loan agreement with the owner in April 2019. Commenced four years ago, the building rests on approximately 5,000Sqm of land. Civil work for the construction of the factory took up 12 million Br, while costs for the machinery, including laboratory and paint mixer equipment, totaled 10 million Br. It is currently waiting to receive machinery imported from Turkey.

The type of paint the company will produce include the full range necessary for auto refinishing, and the factory is set to produce up to 30,000lt of paint a day, according to the company's general manager, Munir Abduselam, who founded the company under his name in 2009 with nearly one million Birr in capital. The company was involved in importing automotive and wood paints and working on automotive refinishing work, as well as wood finishing projects.

"The factory will produce paints that have so far been imported to the country," he said. "Instead of importing fully processed materials, we can shift to semi-processed with this change."

Asmam Coatings & Chemicals is joining the three industrial paint and six automotive paint factories operating in the country. However, high volumes of paint are imported every year. Last year 615.5tn of various kinds of paint were imported into the country, the costs of which ran up to almost one million dollars in foreign currency. There are also over 24 plants that make wall, quartz, aluminium, anti-rust, traffic and blackboard paints as well as alkyd varnish.

The benefits of locally sourcing these products can save the country forex, according to Meki Kebede, director of soap, paint and related products at the Chemical & Construction Inputs Industry Development Institute.